Warwickshire seek consistency

Championship Division 1 Nat League Division 2 Captain Heath Streak Coach Mark Greatbatch Overseas Players Heath Streak Daniel Vettori In Tim Ambrose Out Keith Piper (retired) Trevor Penney (retired) Tom Mees Stuart Eustace

Revolving door
All change at Edgbaston, with five new faces in senior positions. Heath Streak takes over the captaincy from Nick Knight and leads a squad bolstered by the signing of Tim Ambrose from Sussex and Daniel Vettori as second overseas player. Keith Piper and Trevor Penney have retired and Dewald Pretorius, the South African quick bowler, will not be returning because of persistent injury problems. Off the field Colin Povey, a former water polo international has replaced Dennis Amiss as chief executive and Mark Greatbatch has succeeded John Inverarity as director of coaching.

Winter wonderland
Warwickshire cashed in on Ashes success by announcing a record post-tax profit of more than £750,000, some of which has been used to refit the dressing rooms in response to Australia's complaints about cramped facilities. Warwickshire and England will now change in palatial surroundings, including a sauna and jacuzzi.

Strengths
Vettori's arrival - and the possible early-season availability of Ashley Giles if his hip recovers - should strengthen the spin department which has been Warwickshire's weakness. Depth in batting and seam bowling will give them healthy selection options.

Weaknesses
Plenty of strokemakers but not enough grafters in the batting, which could leave them dependent on the prolific Knight.

Best-case scenario
Warwickshire believe they have their best-balanced squad since the mid-1990s and can challenge in all four competitions.

Worst-case scenario
If they bat as inconsistently as they did last season, and Knight loses form, they could be also-rans.

Young one to watch
Moeen Ali. Religion - he has become a devout Muslim - and the England Under-19 captaincy have tempered natural strokeplay with responsibility.

Key man
Nick Knight. Warwickshire need his stability and consistency if their strokemakers are to prosper.

What they say
"We got knocked over too easily by the better sides last season," says Greatbatch, "so I would like to see us turn those defeats into draws or victories. I don't want us to make life comfortable for the opposition out in the middle - within the laws of the game, of course."

Mark Wagh
The signing of Vettori could be the most important of the year. Quality spinners are crucial ingredients to success not only for their wickets but also because they reduce the workload of the seamers. The batting is strong and deep, and the squad has a good mixture of youth and experience. Might be difficult to maintain focus for the one-day league given a strong Championship run.

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