Rob Jones wants to learn from the best in the Lancashire squad to cement his place in the team

The Red Rose kick off their County Championship campaign with a trip to Kent on May 14.

Jones states he’s continually looking at ways to improve his game, and seeing what changes he can make for the better.

He said: “It’s been quite a long pre-season, we’ve played a few games, so it’s always nice to get going. Dubai is an interesting place and the cricket was good. The couple of games we had didn’t go the way I wanted them to, but that’s alright, that’s cricket.

“You’re learning every time you play or train, just trying to get better, seeing that you can implement in the games and take away from them. It’s important that you analyse it in a positive way, and look at what you can change or do differently.

“I want to cement a consistent spot in the first team this year. I’ve been in and out, which has been difficult, so hopefully I can get off to a good start this year, score some early runs, and contribute to the team.

“As long as I do my job as a batter then I will be satisfied. I was the leading run scorer in the One Day Cup last year, which was nice, I had a good competition, same with T20. I want to continue that good form going forward in white ball cricket.

“It was nice just to contribute to a lot of games, and ultimately try and win games for Lancashire.

“I know we’ve got some incredible players here, like Jos (Butler) and Livi (Liam Livingstone), who will come back in the team, but that’s healthy and helps me to learn from the best, like they are doing around the world in the IPL.

“It’s worth chatting to them and learning about how they go about their businesses and what they do well.

“Competitiveness is always good in the squad, it keeps you on your toes. We are a big club with a very good squad and once we step out on that field on Thursday we are competing to win a Championship, that’s the bottom line.

“It’s been spoken a lot about us just coming second, and these first six games are really crucial. If we get off to a good start and produce good cricket, we will give ourselves the best chance of competing at the backend of the year.

“No matter who is playing, we are all trying to achieve one goal and win the County Championship, which is a dream a lot of people have. We were all pretty gutted last year, so we are all pretty hungry now to go that one step further.”

Jones hopes that there will be decent conditions for the opening game against Kent.

“You try to be as consistent as you can,” he added.

“Everyone is different and has a different way of going about it. The pitch might be more conducive to bowlers and you might have to adapt to that, but judging off the scores from last week there’s some flat pitches about.

“Hopefully Kent is a different wicket for both bat and ball, and it’ll be a decent game of cricket.”