'This is an exciting and important season for us' says Shine

With less than one hundred days to go until the start of the first class cricket season everyone at Somerset County Cricket Club is geared towards making sure that everything is in place to enable the club to gain promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.

The club has already made three significant new signings in West Indian fast bowler Nixon McLean, South African batsman James Bryant and former Middlesex all rounder Aaron Laraman, whose presence will change the make up of the side, and create renewed competition for places among established players.

"The players are already well into their preparations for the new season, and I have been very pleased with their reactions so far, " Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me, just before the Christmas break.

He continued: "Every player has a full developmental programme with a specific training emphasis which have been drawn up as a result of looking at footage from the `crick-stat' videos that has been analysed by Andy Hurry. We have sat down and talked with each player about how to improve their game."

Looking ahead to the new year he told me: "Everyone will have a regular full specific skills session with me, and timetabled nets with the Academy players along with specific fielding sessions, in addition to working with Darren Veness and Andy Hurry on their physical fitness."

What was he hoping for in 2003 I asked. He told me: "This is an exciting and important season for us and the players are all geared up and ready to go.We know that we have got to get promotion, it's as simple as that."