IF Sussex pace bowler Billy Taylor turns out regularly - he is primarily a one-day limited-overs player at Hove at the moment - Winchester will take some beating.

Paul Marks and ultra-talented sportsman Jimmy Taylor are proven run-getters, while the arrival of the nomadic Archie Norris (late of Hambledon and Finchampstead) will add to a top order boosted again by the return of Raj Naik from his native India.

The remaining four Division 2 sides - Easton, Rowledge, Sparsholt and Trojans - are all capable of beating one another.

Quarter-finalists in the Wadworth 6X Village Championship last season, Easton are a competitive outfit, capable of overturning the best, especially in their Cocket's Mead 'bowl'.

Already boasting the proven Green brothers, they are strengthened by the arrival - from the Victorian outback - of Francis Gilly, a left-hand medium-pace bowler and batsman.

But skipper Steve Green has one main aim - to avoid relegation! "This is going to be a very competitive league and our primary objective is to avoid finishing in the two relegation positions," he emphasised.

Lack of batting depth is a worry for Trojans, who - initially at any rate - are expected to run without any assistance from overseas.

Sparsholt, who struggled badly from unavailabilities last season, have an interesting newcomer in Australian-born Doug Tongue, who showed his batting pedigree with a century against Lymington in a friendly last September.

Rob Savage leads Sparsholt, who have lost Will Marriner to St Cross Symondians, their Winchester neighbours.

Rowledge, who finished runners-up to Winchester after stringing together ten successive wins during the second half of last summer, accept they may struggle at first.

"We've got a lot of lads away at university for the initial six weeks of the season," conceded veteran bowler Chris Yates, who is currently sidelined after a hip operation.

Among the initial absentees is Cardiff University CCE all-rounder Chris Yates, who has played regularly for the Hampshire Board XI for the past two seasons.

On paper, Lymington are capable of beating most sides, but all too often flatter to deceive.

Daniel Peacock, the club's former Zimbabwe A off-spinner, takes over the Lymington captaincy from Neil Trestrail.

Ben Craft and Glyn Treagus ought to be among the principal divisional runscorers, with Western Australia Under-19 left-arm spinning all-rounder Aaron Heal an interesting addition to the side.