John Crawley believes that the Hampshire Hawks should set their sights higher than consolidation when the county begin their first season in division one of the totesport League, formerly known as the National League.

The Hawks have been made 12-1 for the title and 10-11 third favourites for relegation by totesport but Crawley, who skippered Hampshire to promotion in the one-day competition last season, believes that settling for survival would be a big mistake.

Crawley, who is 12-1 with totesport to finish as division one's leading run-scorer after playing his best cricket of last season in the National League's second division, said: "It's easier to consolidate in a new league for a football team than it is in a one-day cricket league. In a one-day game of cricket, you can't draw a game and pick up a point here and there so I think you have to go out with a positive attitude and try and win games.

"You see a lot of football clubs like Southampton who want to consolidate and stay in the Premiership and that's perfectly acceptable, a lot of money is at stake from all the spin-offs that come with being in the Premiership.

"But in football you only have 90 minutes and if you want to just hold tight and get men behind the ball you can do it. Even if it got to the stage where we were thinking about consolidation in the totesport League we would have to win more than half the games we play so we have to get on a roll and play some really good cricket, like we did last season, and if we do that we'll challenge."

The England and Wales Cricket Board have agreed a two-year sponsorship deal with bookmakers totesport, the company's first major sponsorship deal outside horse racing for county cricket's one-day league.

The Hampshire Hawks begin their totesport League season against the Warwickshire Bears at Edgbaston on April 25.