LANCASHIRE will bid to make a winning start to life in the LV= County Championship Division Two when they take on Worcestershire in the season opener which gets underway at Old Trafford today.

Both sides were relegated from the top flight last year and Lancashire coach Peter Moores, a former Worcestershire wicketkeeper, is targeting a strong start to the season in a bid to bounce back.

He said: “Everybody targets that (a good start). If you play well or don’t play well, it’s down to partly how well you prepare in the winter.

“You need a few breaks sometimes early on – you hope you play.

“Historically we’ve been good at the starts, but last year we didn’t get off to that good a start.

“In my first two or three years, we really got out of the blocks well.

“We’ll try and do the same, and it gives you early momentum and gets everything moving.

“But, realistically, we know that our job will be to be as committed on the first day as it will be on the last day. That’s how we’ve had our success before.”

Lancashire have added batsmen Simon Katich and Ashwell Prince to their ranks and will start among the favourites for the title.

Moores added: “We’ve had to try and look at areas in which we can get better. That’s a collective of all the players and coaches.

“There’s a real desire to go out and play. We know we’ve got a lot of good players, but we are judged by how well you deliver on the field. Last season was frustrating for us. We played good one-day cricket, but the four-day stuff we didn’t really play that well.”