Warwickshire captain Jim Troughton says the Bears are determined to make up for their final-day disappointment of last season when they begin their County Championship campaign against Somerset at Edgbaston on Thursday.
Warwickshire lost the title on the last day of last term as Lancashire beat them to glory and, while the odds betting has them as outsiders for the 2012 crown, Troughton says confidence is high in the camp.
After an impressive pre-season trip to Barbados and some decent live scores and results, Troughton says the Bears squad is in good shape for the new challenge.
The captain told Sky Sports: “I’ve challenged the guys to go out there and not look too far ahead and look after each session, win each delivery and each battle.”
“That’s the challenge, forget about last year, be ruthless, be consistent this year, do the basics better than the opposition and if we do that I’m confident we’ll be up near the top of the table.”
Warwickshire have received a blow, however, ahead of the new campaign after fast bowler Boyd Rankin was ruled out of the first six weeks of the season with a foot injury.
He joins fellow bowlers Chris Woakes and Ricardo Gordon on the sidelines and director of cricket Ashley Giles has called the injury setbacks “extremely frustrating” on the eve of the County Championship getting underway.
