AMBITIOUS Mark Newton has started his second year as chief executive at New Road with one main aim - to make sure Worcestershire are a knockout!

And that, he says, means 'punching above their weight' against the bigger counties.

He said: "I would love us to be regarded like a Leicestershire or a Kent. They are non-Test match grounds and they don't have the financial resources of the Test grounds, yet they have found a way to be competitive year in and year out.

"I'd love Worcestershire to be regarded as one of those sort of counties, one of the smaller boys punching above their weight while at the same time making sure we run the club commercially and don't lose £114,000 again. We can't afford to do that every year."

Newton took over from retiring secretary Mike Vockins on June 1 last year - and he's enjoying every minute of it.

He said: "I had a very hard act to follow with Mike. How do you follow 30 years? But I think in the end it can be summed up by a difference in style, a difference in culture.

"The club had made a decision, upon Mike deciding to retire, to change the method of governance if you like, to become a much more executively driven organisation. Therefore, I guess they looked for people to fulfil that type of brief. But I'm a different animal to Mike. I'd like to think we both have our attributes. Mike did a fantastic job I know that, but I am just a different style of person."

Was the job what he expected? "Exactly," says Newton, adding: "I was lucky enough to have worked at the Oval and Headingley before hand, so you are used to a Test match ground environment steeped in cricket tradition.

"So, yes, it's been as I expected and I have to say the route the committee have taken in this certainly puts Worcestershire at the forefront in terms of what's happening around the country.

"They have all been as good as their word and they are allowing Tom (Moody) and myself to drive the organisation forward and obviously at the same time keep them in touch with what's going on. They certainly make policy decisions as far as the future is concerned.

"Both Tom and I report directly to the committee via the chairman and that's how I would have wanted it from day one."

Newton is convinced his partnership with director of cricket Tom Moody is an ideal combination for a successful future for the County both on and off the field.

He said: "I'm not an ex-cricketer. I might understand the technicalities but I would not profess to comment, or to tell players or anybody else on the technical side, how to do that.

"In any sporting organisation my view is that ours is the right way. The director of that sport, in our terms Tom Moody, looks after the cricket and I look after the rest of the business and the stadium.

"What's best about this situation is that Tom is also responsible for the cricket budget in the end as well, although obviously I help him with that.

"But the great joy of that is Tom isn't one of those coaches who says 'give me the money and I'll make you a successful team'. He does understand the need for balance and for budgeting and to make sure we don't spend too much."

Newton admits that one of the low points this season was the Benson and Hedges Cup semi-final defeat against Essex at Chelmsford.

"We were all down a bit about that because if we had reached a Lord's final - in our first year of re-organisation if you like - it would have been absolutely fantastic. But I think all of us want promotion in the County Championship - that's the first priority.

"We have had a cracking start in the Norwich Union League and to have said before the start of the season 'you'll reach the semi-final of the Benson and Hedges Cup', especially after our first game against Gloucestershire, we would have been delighted."

Newton accepts that the recent lengthy gap in first team cricket at New Road has not been ideal but will benefit the game in the long run.

"A large part of the break has been caused because we switched the Gloucestershire game, so we had the Jubilee weekend free here to stage the concerts.

"I know that's nothing to do with cricket, and people might argue we are a cricket club first, but staging a concert of that magnitude I think signifies more than anything we have done so far, the change of culture within the club.

"We have to understand that to improve our cricket we have to be far more commercially astute. Things like the concerts contribute to that. Don't forget the money it raises will eventually go towards cricket, better players and a better team out in the middle."

At the moment, though, Newton, is continuing to revel in his busy schedule of New Road duties.

"I love every minute of it. Who wouldn't coming into this environment every day? I've said ever since I've worked in cricket that I've never probably done a proper day's work as most people would measure it.

"We have our bad days, but anybody in my position would say it's just the most fantastic job, particularly if you love the sport as much as I do."