8:30am Thursday 11th March 2010
By Tom Guest
VIKRAM Solanki can’t wait for the new season to start and is eagerly anticipating being at the helm of a new-look Worcestershire squad.
The New Road skipper is delighted with director of cricket Steve Rhodes’ recruitment and is raring to go ahead of another long campaign.
The County have signed Aussies Phil Jaques and Steve Smith as well as Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan as their overseas players for different periods of the season, while seamer Alan Richardson, on-loan wicketkeeper Ben Scott and all-rounder James Cameron are also on board.
With the likes of high-profile stars Simon Jones, Gareth Batty, Steven Davies, Stephen Moore and Kabir Ali all leaving the club last year, it is a time of transition for Worcestershire.
However, Solanki is happy with the players at his disposal and believes his side can do well this season. He said: “We are very pleased with our re-cruitment. Steve has worked hard through the winter and considered all the options.
“He’s been on the phone constantly to me about what I think about one player or another, but we are happy with the three guys we have got.
“Shakib has really impressed me. His numbers impressed me before I had the opportunity to look at what he can do. He is a young man who leads his country, which means he has a phenomenal amount of responsibility on his shoulders, but he seems to me a streetwise cricketer who has put in some good performances against England.”
Solanki and his team-mates headed to The Worcestershire Golf Club in Malvern Wells this week for a team-bonding day and the captain believes such activities are beneficial.
Worcestershire have also had the use of a state-of-the-art winter training base at Malvern College, which has provided them with an easily-accessible site with first-class facilities.
Solanki added: “I think everybody realises we’re going to have tough challenges ahead, but if we can gel together as a group of players then that will give us the start we need.
“Last year we spent a lot of time travelling to practice. But now we are just up the road in Malvern and the fact it has absolutely everything we need is very useful.”
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