Paul Terry has insisted that a 'big name' Hampshire captain is not essential.

Hampshire first team manager Terry will continue to discuss the county's captaincy options when he flies into Southampton from Perth next Friday.

But he is adamant that a well- known name is not a pre-requisite for the man who will take over from Robin Smith next month.

At one point the player signed to replace Shane Warne was likely to come in as captain, with the Waugh twins and Wasim Akram all considered.

But 27-year-old Shoaib Akhtar has not played county cricket before and will want to put all his energy into bowling very, very fast.

Terry said: "The captaincy was always going to depend on who we signed and it's not that important to have a big name as captain.

"I just want someone who can be a good captain on the field. It's got to be a guy who's prepared to play good cricket but we won't be deciding on who that will be for a while.

"I need to get back and assess a few things and talk to a few people before we do that. I've got a few thoughts in my mind now but we won't make a decision until pre-season training is under way."

Four men are already in the frame. Former Lancashire skipper John Crawley would surely be the favourite if he was to express an interest in the job.

Crawley has experience of captaining superstars, Muttiah Muralitharan was one of his charges at Old Trafford in 1999, but his ambitions are likely to be on keeping his England place this summer.

Terry is in favour of handing the captaincy to Simon Katich who he knows from being based in Perth, where Katich played for Western Australia before moving to New South Wales.

Director of cricket Tim Tremlett believes that Katich would be better off without the burden of captaincy in his first season with Hampshire.

But the final decision rests with Terry, who will also be considering the respective merits of current vice-captain Will Kendall and ex-deputy Shaun Udal, who he played with at Hampshire for several years.

Terry added: "There are good people who have been mentioned. They might not all want to do the job but I wouldn't have any qualms about giving Simon the job.

"He's a really good bat, a thoroughly decent bloke and has captained New South Wales Australia A and Western Australia, he's a definite possibility."

The small matter of Shoaib's medical is likely to take place before the new captain is named. Terry added: "If everything goes according to plan with the medical, he's ideal.

"He's very marketable and is going to be very exciting for people to come and watch.

"I think the Rose Bowl will settle down to be a pretty good wicket this year, but it's always nice to have a quick bowler in your side. Hopefully it will mean that more and more people come and watch."