WORCESTERSHIRE'S head groundsman Tim Packwood is happy with the state of the wickets his team has produced this season despite a clutch of low-scoring games at New Road.

A pitch liaison officer (PLO) inspected the wicket after the first day of the Liverpool Victoria County Championship match with Derbyshire and he reported that if Worcestershire could produce similar wickets all season, they would be fine.

The only criticism the PLO highlighted was that the track could do with a little more pace.

"After the first day of the Derby game, the players were saying the pitch looked good and the PLO said it looked good, but suddenly a load of wickets all fell in quick succession, but that is what happens sometimes," Packwood said.

"I'm still very happy with how the square is coming along and there is a good covering of grass on it because we haven't had any flooding this year.

"The only problem that I seem to be getting at the moment is that, because there is quite a thickness of grass on there, the ball tends to seam around a bit more than I would have liked, which was the case against Somerset.

"So we are having to do a bit more in the preparation of the wickets to thin the grass out before we start to do the rolling and watering."

It is fair to say that Packwood and his team have played a considerable part in Zaheer Khan's explosive start to his Worcestershire career by creating wickets suited to the Indian paceman's style of bowling.

Packwood added: "I think the wickets and the conditions have both suited Zaheer Khan and from what I've heard, the 2006 Dukes balls seem to be swinging around quite a bit anyway.

"I think there probably has been a bit of assistance in the four-day wickets for him, because we are playing at the bottom end of the square.

"There tends to be more moisture there in the early part of the season in those wickets.

"Obviously there are going to be a few things in the pitch at this time of year which put the batsmen under a bit more pressure, but if you bowl the ball in the right area, you get your rewards."

However, Packwood is predicting there will be plenty of chances for Worcestershire's batsmen to rack up big scores as the square dries out over the summer.

"With the weather we have had recently, we have been struggling with the high winds to keep the square dry, but the wicket itself is dry at the moment.

"We have been using the wickets towards the bottom end of the square so far and, traditionally, they tend to do more early in the season," added Packwood.

"Soon we will be moving to the wickets at the top end of the square, though, and there tends to be a few more runs in those, so hopefully we will be seeing some big scores soon."