CAPTAIN Vikram Solanki is rated at 60-40 in favour of being fit for today's Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division Two match at New Road -- according to director of cricket Steve Rhodes.

Vice-captain Gareth Batty took charge of the team for the two-wicket Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy win over Nottinghamshire on Sunday, but Rhodes is optimistic Solanki will be in the side to take on Somerset.

Solanki has been struggling with a fractured index finger on his right hand -- an injury he picked up during fielding practice while on England duty -- and he missed the trip to Trent Bridge.

Rhodes said: "Vikram is optimistic he will play.

"I would say he was about 50-50 at the start of the week, but he has improved a little bit and I would say he is more like 60-40 now.

"He has been training a fair bit this week and we will lift the tempo and see how he responds before making a decision on him before the game.

"He is the club captain, and although Gareth (Batty) did a fantastic job leading the team against Nottinghamshire on Sunday, we need to get Vikram out on the field."

Rhodes added that he was well aware of the threat Marcus Trescothick poses for Somerset, but he insisted his players will be concentrating on their own performances and not those of the opposition.

He said: "Marcus will be hungry for more runs and he is in good nick after a century in the C&G Trophy at the weekend.

"He is a good player, but if we bowl well at him we have a chance of getting him out.

"We cannot afford to bowl badly at him and let him help himself to easy runs. If he does get a decent score, we don't mind too much as long as we have made him work hard for the runs.

"Hopefully, if we bowl as well as we can, we can contain him, and the other Somerset batsmen, and give ourselves a real chance of winning the game."

Daryl Mitchell seems likely to make way for the return of Solanki in the only change to the side that played Nottinghamshire at the weekend.

Worcestershire (from): Mitchell, Moore, Dav-ies, Solanki, Smith, Hick, Batty, Sillence, Kabir Ali, Price, Mason, Zaheer Khan.

Somerset (from): Trescothick, Wood, White, Hildreth, Parsons, Durston, Gazzard, Andrew, Johnson, Willoughby, Caddick, Trego.