WORCESTERSHIRE coach Bill Athey believes England will have to pull out all the stops if they are to win this summer's tough five-Test series against the West Indies.

"They are a formidable side and very difficult to deal with," said former England batsman Athey as he prepares the County for their three-day match against the tourists which opens at New Road on Friday.

Athey said: "I think the Tests will be very interesting. Hopefully, England will beat Zimbabwe in the second Test and the West Indies have just come off a thrilling series which they won against Pakistan.

"Both sides are on the up a little bit so it should be a good contest.

"Everybody loves coming here and beating England and the West Indies will certainly be fired up for it. They get fantastic support when they are over here and it should be a very good series.

"But all the England players can deal with them on their day. They'll have all done it before, but England are going to have to play well to win the series, it's as simple as that."

"Five Tests is a tough schedule and it will be hard cricket. There certainly won't be any soft cricket."

Athey, however, accepts that the West Indies are not as powerful as they used to be despite their current array of stars.

"No, they aren't as good as they were. In the late 1970s and possibly late 80s they were a great side with all the quick bowlers they had along with Richards, Greenidge and Haynes.

"They aren't as good as that now but they have got one or two young players on the up and, as I say, they are coming off the back of a Test series win so they'll be confident.

"Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh will be firing and, of course, there's Brian Lara. Nobody knows really how Lara is going to shape up, but Jimmy Adams has been quite inspirational."

Athey is quietly confident that Graeme Hick can make a major impact in the forthcoming series.

"Everybody knows what we at Worcester think about Hicky. He's good enough. Let's just hope that he has a little bit of luck here and there and he'll score plenty."

Worcestershire are expected to make changes for the West Indies game. Performances by players involved in the current Second Eleven Championship match against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham College will be taken into consideration.