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Nottinghamshire confident Rice will be magic ingredient

In the ideal world of the England and Wales Cricket Board, the reorganisation of the County Championship into two divisions next year will immediately prompt a process in which the cream will rise to form a top flight containing the six 'Test venue' counties and three others.

The problem with this happy, blue-skied vision is that two of the counties who host international cricket finished in the bottom three of the championship last season and, in the case of Nottinghamshire, this failure extended an underachieving sequence in first-class cricket which has lasted for four years.

After finishing 11th, 17th and 13th in the three previous campaigns, Notts were 16th last season, with only three victories, and it will require a major improvement this summer to keep them out of division two in 2000.

The odd thing, however, is that nobody at Trent Bridge seems in the remotest doubt that such an upturn will happen and chief executive Mark Arthur confirms: ``The mood here is more optimistic than for years. There's a buzz of anticipation about the place and it's all down to the return of one of the Trent Bridge legends.''

Clive Rice, who led Notts to the championship in 1981 and to a championship-NatWest double in 1987, has been tempted back as director of cricket at very considerable cost and at the umpteenth time of asking and such is his reputation for leadership that a collective rise in standards is assumed rather than predicted.

``It has,'' concedes Arthur, ``been a rather bleak period for us out in the middle and the fact that we have made great progress in developing the facilities at Trent Bridge has led some people to question our priorities.

``We're absolutely determined that our overall development will be built around success on the field and by appointing Clive we've shown that we're aiming high. He has proved, first as a player and captain with this county and more recently as a coach and administrator in South Africa, that he's a winner. Those who knew him here before speak of his force of personality and his ability to inspire others to perform to their full potential.''

The first impact of Rice's return was the decision of Paul Johnson, who surrendered the captaincy to Jason Gallian midway through last season and was rumoured to be considering a move, to commit himself to a new contract.

Tim Robinson, 40, has been persuaded to carry on adding his experience to a batting order in which Usman Afzaal, Graeme Archer, Matt Dowman, Noel Gie and Guy Welton will be under pressure to be more consistent.

Only Johnson made the top 50 in the national batting averages last season and the bowling was rarely more reliable with only seamer Paul Franks consistently effective, his 52 championship wickets at 26.44 apiece earning him a late call-up to the England A squad during the winter.

Seamer Andy Oram has a stress fracture of the back, putting him out for at least eight weeks and adding to the burden for Vasbert Drakes, the former West Indian Test fast bowler who has replaced leg-spinner Paul Strang in the overseas berth.

Mark Bowen, Kevin Evans, Chris Tolley and Alex Wharf will also compete for seam places and Richard Stemp will add his left-arm spin and unpredictable personality to the attacking mix.

Details & First-Class fixtures

Staff: *J E R Gallian, U Afzaal, G F Archer, R T Bates, M N Bowen, M P Dowman, V C Drakes, K PEvans, P J Franks, N A Gie, J P Hart, P Johnson, D S Lucas, W M Noon, A R Oram, S J Randall, C M Read, R T Robinson, R D Stemp, C M Tolley, L N P Walker, G E Welton, A G Wharf, M J A Whiley.

New players: V C Drakes, R D Stemp, D S Lucas, S J Randall, M J A Whiley.

Departures: J E Hindson, P R Pollard (to Worcs), P A Strang.

1998 record

Championship: 16th (W3 L10 D4).
AXA League: 11th (W7 L8 T1 NR 1).
B&H Cup: 1st rd.
NatWest Trophy: Qtr-finals.

First-class fixtures

April: Mon 12 Cambridge Univ (Trent Bridge). Tues 20 Leics (Leicester). Wed 28 Worcs (Trent Bridge).

May: Wed 5 Oxford Univ (The Parks). Fri 14 Somerset (Trent Bridge). Wed 19 Lancs (Old Trafford). Thur 27 Hampshire (Trent Bridge).

June: Wed 2 Northants (Northampton). Tues 15 Warwicks (Trent Bridge). Wed 30: Gloucs (Bristol).

July: Fri 9 Durham (Riverside Ground). Wed 21: Kent (Trent Bridge). Fri 30: Derbyshire (Trent Bridge).

August: Wed 4 Middlesex (Southgate). Wed 18 Glamorgan (Colwyn Bay). Tue 24 Yorkshire (Trent Bridge).

Sept: Wed 1 Surrey (Oval). Wed 8 Sussex (Hove). 15 Essex (Trent Bridge).