Solanki appointed Worcestershire captain

The England batsman Vikram Solanki will captain Worcestershire in 2005 as the club attempt to bounce back immediately into the top flight of the County Championship, following their relegation this year. Solanki, 28, has played for more than a decade for the first team at New Road, and he will have Gareth Batty as his vice captain.

Worcestershire had been searching to replace Ben Smith in the captaincy role following the retirmement of Steve Rhodes, who stood in as captain at the end of the 2004 season.

"I am honoured and delighted to accept the invitation," said Solanki, "and look forward to working with everybody at the club over the next few years.

"We have a very strong squad of players and I look forward to working with them and Tom Moody in our hunt for titles."

Moody, the director of cricket at New Road, believes Solanki's appointment is an important step forward: "Vikram is a Worcestershire player through and through and we are confident he has the right qualities to lead us forward at this stage of our development," he said. "The experience he has recently gained in the successful England set-up can only help us at county level and I look forward to working with him in the future."

And how Worcestershire will need all of Solanki's experience, following their disappointing first-class showing this year. A key factor in their relegation was the failure of the attacking allrounders Andrew Hall and Andy Bichel. Hall took 29 wickets at 36 apiece, whereas Bichel's 33 victims cost 46 runs each. Worcestershire have already confirmed that Bichel will definitely not return to New Road next year, while Hall's future with the club is still in the balance.