Joe Leach: Captain says Worcestershire have every chance of winning Division Two

Joe Leach has taken five wickets in an innings four times in Division Two this summer

Worcestershire captain Joe Leach has set his sights on winning the Division Two title when they host Durham in their final Championship game of 2017.

A maximum of six points from the match would ensure Worcestershire's sixth promotion to Division One in 15 years.

But victory would bring them the Division Two title - which they have won only once before, in 2003.

"If we do our jobs and play to somewhere near our potential, we're going to have every chance," he said.

"Not only of getting promoted, but going up as champions.

"If we'd been offered this position at the start of the season, it would have been fantastic knowing that, if we win the game then we win the league.

"I don't think we have done that for a significant period of time so it would be a big achievement.

"With the win against Notts away and some of the performances we have put in during recent weeks, if we do manage to go up as champions, no-one can say we don't deserve it."

Worcestershire's hopes in their own hands

After watching main rivals Nottinghamshire lose to third-placed Northamptonshire last week, that left Worcestershire six points clear of Notts and 19 ahead of Northants.

And they know that the six points now needed to guarantee promotion could quickly be lessened if Northants batted and got bowled out cheaply at Leicester on Monday.

Also, if the same happened to Notts at Hove, it would alter the plot again - but Leach, Division Two's leading wicket-taker with 63 victims, wants his side to take advantage of matters being in their own hands and clinch their first Division Two title since 2003 when director of cricket Steve Rhodes was still part of the side.

"We've had a week which has been a bit weird watching scorecards elsewhere that you can't influence," said Leach. "Now we need to make sure that on Monday morning we win that first session."