Worcestershire skipper Daryl Mitchell has given his backing to all-rounder Joe Leach becoming the County's new vice-captain and said: "he has got a great cricket brain."
Leach has taken over the vice-captain responsibilities from Moeen Ali whose appearances at New Road are now limited because of his England commitents.
He led the side on the third morning of last week's home LV = County Championship match with Sussex while Mitchell was absent when his wife went into labour and gave birth to Ava Jane Mitchell.
Mitchell said: "We are seeing less of Moeen Ali, who is playing for England, and it’s important we have someone to step in if I am injured or missing.
"Joe was a pretty easy choice. He’s had a fantastic season on a personal level, is one of the first names on the team-sheet in all forms of the game and has a great cricket brain."
Mitchell says Worcestershire now have "no margin for error" in the battle to stay in Division One of the LV = County Championship.
Mitchell believes Worcestershire now have to win their remaining two matches against Durham and Middlesex if they are to win the fight to remain in the top flight.
He was disappointed by the County's performance in the innings and 63 run defeat against Sussex.
Mitchell said: "Overall, we didn’t play well against Sussex. It was a good toss for us to win on a used pitch and we knew spin would play quite big part in the last innings of the match.
"We didn’t bad well enough on the first day and to only get 210 in our first innings was pretty poor. There were four of us, me included, who played big drives and edged behind to full and wide deliveries. There were other soft dismissals.
"We have pretty inconsistent with the bat throughout the season and when you have a lot of young players you are going to make mistakes but, unfortunately, us older guys have made mistakes as well.
"Losing that game leaves us with no margin for error if we are to avoid relegation.
"We are probably the favourites to get relegated now because we have to win our remaining matches against Durham and Middlesex. "In some ways that might take the pressure off us a little bit.
"Durham have struggled at home for the last couple of games and that presents us with an opportunity to try to take our fight into the last match of the season."
