Worcestershire Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes is anticipating "a good battle" with their former overseas player in Sussex paceman Steve Magoffin during the LV = County Championship clash at Hove starting tomorrow (Sunday).
Magoffin played for Worcestershire during the first half of the 2008 season, having been recommended by their former player and Director of Cricket Tom Moody who was his coach with Western Australia.
The 35-year-old had previously had a short spell with Surrey and in three seasons with Sussex has picked up 57 (2012), 65 (2013) and 72 (2014) first class wickets.
Rhodes said: "I think he is a fine bowler. We selected him before Sussex did. We had him as our overseas player before they did.
"He's got bounce, control, he nips the ball back and fiddles it the other way. He's a very good bowler.
"His knees are a little bit creaky at the moment but as he's done year in and year out for Sussex, he's performed everytime he has played.
"We anticipate a good battle with him."
Rhodes added: "They will have quite an aggressive attack. If they play on one of the new wickets there, the ball will really go through. We will be ready for that. We know what to expect.
"They've got a reasonable pace attack down there which will be a challenge but we will focus hard on improving some of the areas we can improve.
"But like I said before, not many people know a lot about this team and I'm optimistic we will put up a better performance."
Rhodes believes spinner Sachithra Senanayake will reap the benefits of having got his first game under his belt for Worcestershire against Yorkshire.
He said: "Sachithra is a world class cricketer. He's been on the back of some one-day games and hasn't played a four-day game for quite a while.
"He will be glad the sun is shining and I'm pretty sure he will play a major part in the next game."
