WORCESTERSHIRE all-rounder Gareth Andrew is undergoing a spell of strengthening and conditioning work before having a scan to determine the progress he has made in recovering from his back problem.

The 30-year-old has not been able to bowl since the opening four LV= County Championship matches of the season in which he picked up 20 wickets and impressed with the new ball.

He has been playing purely as a batsman when skippering the second XI as part of his rehabilitation process since having a previous scan in June.

Andrew also featured in the NatWest T20 Blast and Royal London One-Day Cup as a batsman.

Director of cricket Steve Rhodes said: “I think Gareth has got a down week this week, that means we’ll take him away from his second team cricket batting-wise so he can do a week building up his strength in the gym and working with our strength and conditioning coach Ross Dewar.

“That’ll put him in a strong position for hopefully getting back to bowling which will be the week after.

“A lot will depend on him having another scan to see how things have healed.That obviously affects his progress. We’ll take it from there, we’ll take it one day at a time.

“But there are lots of hurdles to get over and the good thing is he has spent a period of time now resting from bowling and he’s about to start his real building-up period to get back to bowling.”