DIRECTOR of cricket Steve Rhodes believes Worcestershire are massive underdogs for tomorrow’s Royal London One-Day Cup semi-final clash with Surrey at New Road (11am).

Rhodes described last year’s beaten finalists as "one of the Manchester Uniteds of cricket" with their financial clout.

The last time the two sides met in the competition was in 2015, a game which Surrey won by 36 runs.

England international Jason Roy, Sri Lanka ace Kumar Sangakkara and Rory Burns all scored half-centuries and Sam Curran took three wickets for the London club.

Former Worcestershire and England spinner Gareth Batty will be skippering Surrey, who have won their last four matches at New Road.

Sangakkara has been in superb form, including 121 in Surrey’s high-scoring 24-run victory in Tuesday’s play-off against Yorkshire Vikings.

Rhodes said: “"It is a big game and it is crucial in the sense of it's a knockout situation so you either win and go through or you lose and you are left behind.

"It is just another game of cricket and that's how we should approach it.

"We have played in quarter-finals (for the last three years in white ball cricket) so knockout stages are not uncommon to us and this one in front of our home crowd is set for a lovely day's cricket.

"I think the weather forecast is good and the prospects of a packed crowd is good and why wouldn't you want to go out there and just enjoy it?

"We've played great cricket in this competition and if we can manage to win this one game, then a final would be wonderful.”

Surrey lost to Warwickshire in last season’s final, while Worcestershire suffered a nine-wicket quarter-final defeat against Somerset at Taunton.

Worcestershire will be backed by the majority of a near capacity crowd of more than 4,000 as they seek their first Lord’s appearance in 13 years.

Rhodes said: "We are regarding ourselves as massive underdogs.

“You've just got to look at Surrey’s bank balance and our bank balance and you look at the amount of players they've got and what they pay them and similarly what we do.

"Our home grown academy products are what we are proud of and to get through to semi-final is magnificent.

"So to take on a Manchester United of cricket in a semi-final with the amount of financial power they've got, based in London, what they can do there, and how they can raise revenues, is great.

"They are the favourites, they are the ones that should be winning, so what a wonderful position to be in for us."

Worcestershire have beaten four teams who play at international grounds at home on their way to the semi-finals in Notts Outlaws, Warwickshire, Yorkshire and Durham Jets.

Rhodes added: "That's one of the wonderful things about sport.

“We constantly have punched above our weight and the academy products, the amount of English players that are available to be selected for England that play in our team, it's something to be proud of.

"We've got John (Hastings) and Moeen (Ali) who have played international cricket and no-one else has played international cricket. It's a wonderful place to be in because we know the future is ahead of these guys."