Warwickshire had a fantastic 2002 season, coming 2nd to Surrey in the Championship, a 3rd place finish in the Norwich Union League and, of course, winning the Benson & Hedges Cup against our very selves at Lord's. Will 2003 be as successful?

There's no reason to think why not. After spending a couple of seasons in division 2, they won promotion in 2001 and have consolidated themselves back to the heights that they reached in the 90's under Dermot Reeve and coach Bob Woolmer.

Woolmer left after those heady days to coach the South African national team, but returned back to Birmingham in 2000 and since led the team's revival. However, it seems he's interested in the West Indies current vacant coaching job.

Michael Powell has proved to be another young up and coming captain since he took over from Neil Smith and has a very good team unit at Edgbaston.

His opening partnership with England's Nick Knight speaks for itself, with Knight averaging an incredible 95 in 19 Championship innings last year! Dominic Ostler finally found his form again last term with an average of 45.81 in Championship cricket and 35 in one-day.

And after those three, you have two of the best young batting talents in England. We all know what Ian Bell and Jim Troughton can do when they lead Warwickshire to glory in 'that' final at Lord's and are both fantastic prospects. Bell only averaged 24.37 in 4-day cricket, but Troughton was the star in 2002 with an average of 55.36. Bell performed better at one-day cricket last term, topping Warwickshire's average's with 38.50, while Troughton continued his Championship form with 30.15 an innings. Both have been with the England Academy this winter and have done their bit too.

Tony Frost and Keith Piper are two very good keeper/batsman who seem to be at their best whoever plays and with Dougie Brown (who coached Namibia in the World Cup) finding his form that won him several England one-day caps, then the batting looks very strong.

The bowling also is strong. Brown himself (90 wickets in all cricket in 2002), Alan Richardson and Neil Carter lead the attack and when you add to that Shane Bond of New Zealand as one of the overseas players, then there is real pace there. Bond especially, is one of the brightest talents in world cricket at present and he'll be in England from June onwards for a longer spell than last term and should bag plenty of victims.

Ashley Giles and Neil Smith head the spin options and in tandem bowl very well, mainly keeping the runs to a minimum, but also pick up wickets on the way.

The only downfall for Warwickshire would be missing Bond for the first 2 months and losing Knight and Giles to England, but the options are that good, it won't worry them and didn't affect them last season either.

Losing their coach would be a blow though, but if this happens, the team would still be in good shape.

The batting is explosive in one-day cricket as well as more sedate in the longer version of the game, whilst they have all the options needed in the bowling department to be successful in both forms.

An excellent team unit with some excellent players, there's no reason why Warwickshire can't have further success this season. You can't see them winning the Championship because of Surrey, but another one-day title is within their grasp.

SCIMITARS PREDICTION: Top 3 in Championship and dark horses for National League title.

ONE TO WATCH: Jim Troughton. Another fine left-hander that should progress to higher things for his county and country. Has just scored a hundred for the academy and is good to watch.

WHEN WE MEET: Wed 23-Sat 26 April in Championship at Edgbaston
                        Sun 18 May in National Cricket League at Edgbaston
                    Sun 15 June in National Cricket League at Chelmsford
            Thurs 11-Sun 14 September in Championship at Chelmsford

What are your views?! Put your views on the message board or e-mail me, links below:

Date: 19/3/03

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