Moores seeks Red Rose response

Lancashire head coach Peter Moores insists it is too early to panic following back-to-back County Championship Division One defeats.

The former England coach, however, acknowledges that his batsmen must quickly find form if they are to get their title defence back on track.

The Red Rose make the long trek to Taunton to play Somerset this week after starting the new season with home defeats to Sussex and Warwickshire at Aigburth.

Those losses have left Moores' men with an uphill task if they are to defend the title they won at the West Country venue in such dramatic fashion on the final day of last season.

A shortage of runs has proved Lancashire's downfall in the opening two fixtures - the team have failed to post over 250 in four innings - and Moores admits his batsmen must step up at Taunton, a venue primed for amassing large totals.

Moores said: "Obviously we're not happy that we lost two games in a row and we know that we've got to start playing some better cricket.

"Credit to Sussex and Warwickshire, they played very well against us. Liverpool was a very strong place for us to play last year and the start of this season we've had two tough games.

"The nice thing for us is that we've got lots of cricket coming up over the next few weeks so we've got a chance at Taunton this week to get our season up and running.

"We haven't scored enough runs. It's always tough at this time of year, early on, especially for the top order but when we've got somebody who's got in, no-one has gone on and got a significant score yet.

"We are yet to see anyone get a hundred and put on a partnership of real note to put the opposition under pressure. That is an area for us to work at, it isn't for the lack of trying, we just haven't produced the level of performance to win games at the moment and hopefully that can start this week at Somerset."

Lancashire travel to Somerset boosted by the news that the Cidermen's captain Marcus Trescothick has been ruled out of all cricket for at least six weeks through injury.

Moores, whilst sympathetic to the former England batsman, admits the setback is certainly a plus for his players, but recognises that this week's opposition still have plenty of batting threats that need keeping quiet.

The Red Rose county coach added: "It's good timing for us and it's a big shame for Marcus. He's a beautiful player, very experienced and he makes the game look very simple which is always nice to watch, not quite so if you're the opposition coach, but it's nice for us that he's going to miss out from that respect.

"They've still got some batters in form. Their top order has had a good start to the season but hopefully we can stop them getting runs and score some ourselves."

Asked if panic has set in at the club after starting with back-to-back defeats, Moores concluded: "There is never a time to panic. We've got good players here, that doesn't change overnight. We've got a great team spirit here and that's not going to change either.

"We'll just knuckle down, do the hard work, we know it's a long-haul right through the season and over time I think we'll start to produce."