WARREN Hegg could have been forgiven for pondering the wisdom of agreeing to captain Lancashire after a winter of turmoil at Old Trafford which has already prompted predictions of a disappointing summer.

Virtually as soon as 34-year-old Hegg agreed to take over last October, former captain John Crawley announced he would never play for Lancashire again, Michael Atherton confirmed his retirement and secretary Dave Edmundson also left the club.

Crawley went as far as calling a hearing with the England and Wales Cricket Board in an attempt to secure the release from his contract, which he lost, and was only allowed to join Hampshire after a compensation package was agreed.

His determination to leave did not give the impression of club going forward or of one with a strong team spirit, but rather than be daunted by the challenging times ahead Hegg is relishing the opportunity to restore Lancashire's fortunes in his 16th season at the club.

"I see this as a great challenge," revealed Hegg. "I am confident we have a squad of players who are determined to make Lancashire successful and if we play to our potential there is no reason not to be optimistic."

To help him achieve that objective Lancashire have recruited former all-rounder Mike Watkinson, captain during the mid-1990s, as the new coach in succession to Australian Bobby Simpson.

Several new players have also been brought in, including the shock recruitment of former Yorkshire captain David Byas from across the Pennines, Australian batsman Stuart Law as their new overseas player and ex-Northamptonshire batsman Alec Swann.

They will be supplemented by the gradual introduction of all-rounder Kyle Hogg, England's best player during their recent under-19 World Cup campaign in New Zealand, and 21-year-old fast bowler James Anderson into the first team over the season.

Those additions to an already experienced squad containing Neil Fairbrother, Glen Chapple and Peter Martin gives Hegg optimism that Lancashire, who only preserved their top division status in the championship on the final day of the season, may improve this time.

"I don't think we should get ideas above our station," he warned. "First and foremost our objective is to consolidate in the first division, which is going to be tough in itself.

"Losing our best player in John is not going to help in that, but we've made a few good signings and if we can stay up in the top division I would regard that as a great success.

"We also need to get into the top division in the one-day league as well - we need to be playing top flight cricket and with the squad we've got we should have a good chance of getting into the top three of that and winning promotion.

"But it's most important we get rid of all the negative thoughts and have everybody pulling for the team from the dressing room attendant to the coach.

"We have to phase everything else out from the loss of John Crawley and Michael Atherton to all the other troubles to do with the club which are nothing to do with the players whatsoever.

"That's something that Mike Watkinson and myself have tried to express to the players that we as a collective unit should only worry about ourselves and everything else will fall into place.

"During the pre-season there's been no talk about what's been going on at the club, there's been no talk about John Crawley and I need to hear that - I want to hear positive things from the players."

But Hegg will also have to try and find a balance between his wicketkeeping, captaining and particularly his batting, which has improved to such an extent over the last two seasons that he averaged 38 during that period.

"It's going to be really hard combining all the roles," he admitted. "For the last couple of seasons I've averaged 38 or 39, but rather than look at it as being a burden on me I see it more as being a challenge.

"I'm really looking forward to batting at number six, but what is going to be difficult for me is the wicketkeeping side of things with all the different things that are going through my head."

"I hope that will be made a lot easier by the likes of David Byas, Neil Fairbrother, Stuart Law and when Andrew Flintoff plays there is going to be a hell of a lot of knowledge for me to refer to."

He added: "I'd be stupid to start saying that we're going to set the world on fire and win every trophy, but I think we'll surprise a few people with our performances."