WE'RE in it to win it! That's Tom Moody's optimistic view on Worcestershire's first season in the top flight.

"We're not just there to stay up," said the New Road director of cricket as his squad gear up for their maiden campaign in Division One of the Frizzell County Championship.

After being promoted last term the County are with the elite for the first time since the competition was split into two divisions in 2000.

Moody said: "I feel very confident with the squad we have. I'd be very disappointed if we didn't go into every Championship match this year with a view to winning it.

"It's the type of cricket we've played over the last couple of years. We'll go in there and try to win matches and assess the situation as the games unfold.

"I think we'll be very competitive. We showed our form in Championship cricket last year and I can't see us moving too far off that. If we play the type of cricket we played last year in Division Town then I think we'll be up there among the top teams.

"We've got the batting for Championship cricket and we've also got the depth in the bowling attack to enable us to maintain consistency."

Worcestershire's hopes are boosted by the return of Australian pace ace Andy Bichel and the arrival of 21-year-old seamer Nadeem Malik from Nottinghamshire.

Moody expects both players to make a major impact 'so that ideally in 2005 we'll be playing first division cricket in both competitions.'

The County were relegated from the National League Division One last year when they also reached the C&G Trophy final which they lost in a one-sided match against Gloucestershire.

Moody said: "We've reviewed our one-day season last year which was an interesting one where we had a glimpse of high quality cricket and the other extreme which was very disappointing.

"We can't lose sight of the fact that we were a team which reached the Lord's final last year even though our performance was a poor one, but we've got a lot of scope for improvement in one-day cricket. We're aware of that and we're addressing it."

Moody is also keen for the County to do better than last year in the Twenty20 Cup when the squad were depleted by injuries and international calls.

He said: "The competition went down extremely well with the public and the players. It's something we'd like to do well in."