Lancashire Cricket: Tom Bailey sets his sights on winning silverware this season

The Red Rose start their County Championship campaign away to Kent on Thursday, with their aim being to get their hands on the Division One title after going close last year.

Bailey, who has taken over 250 wickets in his first class career, states he’s not too interested in personal accolades and just wants to help the team to be successful.

He said: “For me it’s all about winning trophies. I always put the personal stuff second, because my number one target is to get that County Championship, and with some of the players we’ve got there’s no reason why we can’t.

“In my career so far, we’ve had one T20 trophy in 2015 and not much else really, so my ambition has always been to win things for the club.

“It helps so much when you do put your focus on the team, as naturally you perform without that pressure on you. As long as you do that, you should play well yourself.

“We’ve had four pre-season games over here and two weeks in Dubai, so all the lads are ready to go. It’s nice to get miles in the legs. It was quite a cold March, so we didn’t get too many chances to get outside so it was nice to do a bit of training over there.

“To get your boots on and get used to being on grass again sort of helps massively. It was 45 degrees in Dubai, maybe just a bit too hot, but you can’t complain. It was slightly different conditions, but we didn’t really have an option, it was either that or train indoors.”

Bailey says the way the season is structured makes it much easier for cricketers to perform at their best in the different formats of the game, and admits a mental shift takes place when preparing for each one.

“Now that they’ve changed it so that it’s in blocks, you can get yourself ready for each format,” he added.

“It used to be difficult when you used to have a four-day and then the Friday night was T20. So it’s a lot easier now.

“The basics are just the same, but there’s so much data around it. Getting your head around it is a challenge in itself, so it was hard mentaly as well as physically.”

Bailey started playing cricket for Vernon Carus, who he has signed for again this year, as well as playing for Preston until he was 20-year-old.

He states seeing a family member play helped him to fall in love with the sport.

“I always used to love going to watch my old man play on a Saturday,” he added.

“It’s what inspired me and that’s why I’m here today. The wider cricket goes, the more chance people have of seeing it and more likely you are to inspire the next generation.”