After a hard winter tour of Australia with the England Lions, for which he was captain, James Taylor is ready to hit the ground running come the start of the season.

Despite averaging well above fifty in the five 50-over tour matches against Australia `A’, he could do nothing to stop the tourists losing 4-0.

However, that doesn’t say there wasn’t positives to take from the tour as the side that Taylor captained was full of young promise.

“The Australian side had a lot of older guys that had experienced heads on their shoulders,” said Taylor.

”Whilst we had good players on that tour we were guilty of not performing both disciplines well on the same day.”

In his fourth year with the England Lions he relished the challenge of captaining a young side in tough conditions. The experience will only further improve his game ahead of the new season.

With that experience behind him he is ready for the pre-season tour to Barbados more than ever for which the team depart next Wednesday.

“Getting some warm weather cricket with all the boys will be essential to us being prepared to start the season on the best foot possible,” he said.

“It was disappointing not be involved with England over the winter but only I can change that by scoring heavily at the start of the season and continuing that on further throughout the year.”

Several counties will join Notts in Barbados to finalise preparations for the new season and whilst Taylor is coy on Nottinghamshire’s chances in the LV= County Championship, he believes that the Outlaws could come to the fore and challenge for honours in one-day cricket.

 “There are a lot of strong teams in division one so it is bound to be a competitive season,” he said.

“I believe this year we could have a good chance on the one-day front with the players we have.”

Whatever happens, Taylor’s form is likely to be crucial in all formats.