Neil Fairbrother has backed John Crawley to be a success as Hampshire captain.

Former England batsman Fairbrother was a teammate of Crawley, pictured, for several years before playing under him at Lancashire from 1999-2001.

And he reckons that Hampshire have made a good move.

Fairbrother said: "John has a great knowledge of the game. His value with the bat speaks for itself but he's a deep thinker and he takes that on to the field. He loved captaining us at Old Trafford and he's a steely character.

"He expects nothing less from the rest of his team than he puts in himself but he knows what he wants and knows what he's about and he will do a good job for Hampshire.

"John's move last year turned out very well for him and now it's a case of onwards and upwards for him. He's a quiet man so, when he talks, people listen to him. He's not a shouter and a bawler but he gets the job done in a quiet and dignified way.

"It was great business on Hampshire's part when they signed him last year and I'm sure they'll get another dividend from him as captain."

The departures of Jason Laney and Giles White could mean that Crawley opens the batting for Hampshire this year as he did as skipper at Lancashire.

On Monday he admitted that he and Paul Terry are fine tuning the batting order, before opening with James Hamblin in his first game as Hampshire skipper.

Fairbrother added: "He opened the batting for us in the championship and that's the hardest place to bat. It showed he was leading by example."

Hampshire's opening pre season friendly against Somerset ended in a draw at the Rose Bowl yesterday. Somerset, 39-1 overnight, rattled up 368-8 before declaring.

Ed Giddins took his first Hampshire wicket, removing Matt Wood (57) but England's Ian Blackwell made 69 off 81 balls, while Piran Holloway was run out for 48.

South African batsman James Bryant top scored on his Somerset debut, with 78.

James Hamblin took 3-70 after making 48 with the bat, while Charlie Van der Gucht finished with figures of 2-64 from his eight overs.

Hampshire were due to play a one day game against Somerset today before entertaining Surrey in a two-day game, starting tomorrow.