"In the past it has to be acknowledged that several sides who were out of all competitions by mid-summer... its inevitable that standards are going to drop when people haven't got anything to play for. So it will improve from that point of view."

"People keep having a go at county cricket but we do play some competitive cricket, there are some good cricketers out there. Its just an easy way of blaming what England have been doing is blame it on the bread and butter cricket which is county cricket."

"I think we earned our place in the first division, yes we want to stay there, but I think if there's one thing we've been disappointed about in the last couple of seasons has been our one day form, and I think we should be a lot better one day side than we are. We've got to be positive with the bat and believe we can get good scores."

"I think the hardest thing is adjusting to the pace of the wickets. I've been out a few times hitting balls where I wasn't even intending to hit them and they've gone straight down fielders throats."

"I think the 2 division championship makes people play harder all the way throughout, there's no mid-table mediocrity. With three-up, three-down I don't think you're safe right until the last games."

"Its up to one of these youngsters to come through and be the next Nasser Hussain. There's two or three of them in with a shout."

"They call it division 2 cricket, supposedly not the best teams, but you look at who we've got to play against and there's some pretty good teams amongst them. Hopefully they'll be saying that about us."

"I don't believe there's that much difference between first and second division cricket, I think that'll probably take five or six years. When players are at the end of their contract and their county's been in the lower division for a period of time then I'm sure they'll look to go and play first division cricket because that's where the England selectors will be looking. At the moment I don't really think it matters."

"Our focus is to be as successful as we can in every competition and to be as competitive as we can day in day out, and I think that's a really good philosophy because if you only fight the fights you think you can win then I think you're going to struggle."

"Its something that we've spoken to the players about and they're very aware that Shane is obviously going to win us some games because he's that type of cricketer, but I think the others guys know that they have to do their bit through the season. He's going to have days like all of us where he has an off day and he doesn't bowl well or perform well and the other guys are going to have to see us through."

"I'm sure I can learn a lot of things, about technique - how to play in different conditions, moving ball, how to play on different pitches, play in a different atmosphere. Its a fresh challenge, something I'm doing for the first time, so it is exciting for me."

"Well its not as different to last year as people think because people were playing for two divisions last. So the equivalent of being mid-table last year was actually we knew it was a relegation issue. Maybe people will be slightly more scientific in their approach, I think there were enough points that came out of last year to suggest that two divisions will be good for English cricket."

"A good stint for Lancashire this year will probably strengthen my game and tighten it up a bit. Obviously we would like to win the championship because Lancashire hasn't won it for quite some time. Also we have a focus on all the one dayers because we're in the quarter-finals of the Benson & Hedges. "

"I'm a big fan of contracts when you've got a real, brilliant England side; at the moment we haven't. I would have liked to have left it free-for-all this summer, hopefully against Zimbabwe and the West Indies, players can really seize opportunities and establish themselves as Test cricketers, and then go for your contracts."

"I think it'll affect any cricketer if its really cold and freezing, it won't help if you have 2 or 3 jumpers on bowling - I guess as a spinner its even worse because its pretty hard to grip the ball. But luckily for me I'm probably getting used to it better."

"I think everyone's just a little bit short of match practice. In the B&H Cup we've bowled well, fielded well but its very hard for the lower order batsmen to come in and always trying to force runs or whatever. It'll be nice to get into four day cricket and let the guys have some time in the middle and get some overs under their belt as well."

"I've never played a game of cricket in my life, whether its county cricket, Sheffield Shield cricket, club cricket in Australia, league cricket in England, Test cricket, where the team I've played for hasn't walked out onto the ground desperate to win. So with that in mind I'm not sure whether two divisions is going to change player's attitudes.

"I think the priority as far as I'm concerned is obviously to get out of the second division. I would like to see the guys flourish in all cricket because we've got a young side now, a good fielding side. We've got a little bit more competition for all the spots and competition is healty for the club."

"This season all the fast bowlers are here. I think its going to be a fantastic contest - who bowls well, who really gets firing. People like Glen McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar and Allan Donald. There's no room for the faint hearted that's for sure."

"You want your better players to be playing first division cricket. They'll want to be there, clubs want to be there, so hopefully that'll raise the profile of cricket and hopefully raise the standard as well."

"For me personally it was an enjoyable year at home, my first year in charge of Tasmania which had its own frustrations but we played some decent cricket back there, I feel in good nick, my body's all in one piece so that's probably most important."

"I believe on a technical side you can get too involved. I believe you can get too involved mentally with a player. I believe in making it simple. Cricketers themselves have got to be responsible for their own technique, they've got to think for themselves. What you do as a coach is you're behind the teams, talking smart cricket, but at the end of the day you've got to leave it up to that player.

"I think the main, obvious lesson I learnt from the winter in South Africa is Test cricket is this huge, huge gap from first class cricket. It really is a wonderful atmosphere, a wonderful arena and something I would hope a few of our lads here will experience down the line."

"English cricket is a lot of cricket to play over a year, with the counties and 3 one-day competitions. I've found its not to bad. To bat day in, day out is excellent. Its probably harder for the bowlers, a lot of tough work, especially over a long season."

"I think we've only got two, maybe three over 30 on the staff. It gives the youngsters we've got here the opportunity to work with Bob Woolmer, who's probably the best coach in the world. It gives him the opportunity to work with a very talented young squad which we have."

"The quality of cricket on the staff is very high indeed. Gladstone Small said to me in Cape Town last winter that he felt I was taking over a better squad of players than I did in 1991. I would subscribe to that at the moment, there are some very talented cricketers indeed."

"Like a lot of other counties we've had limited practice. And on the back of that, to play in those conditions and get success is a pretty good achievement. The wickets we've played on have been very, very good. You've had very squelcy outfields and so on, the actual wickets have been a lot drier than I and the other batters have expected."