LEADING by example - that's Worcestershire's new captain Ben Smith.

The ambitious 31-year-old has already signalled his intention for the season by hitting his way to the top of his side's Frizzell County Championship Division Two batting averages.

And for Worcestershire that's great news, particularly as their main priority this summer is to clinch promotion to the Championship's top flight.

The former Leicestershire star is in his first term as skipper after taking over the reins from Graeme Hick - and he's taken to the job like a duck to water.

'Ducks' in cricketing terms, however, is something rarely associated with Smith.

He's more connected with big scores - just like those he produced in Worcestershire's opening Championship game of the season when he cracked 104 and 82 in an exciting draw with Hampshire at New Road.

In the following rain-ravaged Championship match, at home to Northamptonshire, he had the chance to play just one innings - and hit 50.

It followed the 63 he stroked off the Oxford UCCE attack in a weather-hit three-day friendly in The Parks.

Such a free-scoring lift-off to the season has instantly wiped out any fears County followers may have had that the burden of captaincy could reduce his flow of runs.

He said: "It think it took the pressure off by getting off to a good start and scoring a hundred on the first day of the season.

"But scoring runs and the captaincy are two completely different things at the moment for me.

"Captaincy is something new which I put all my time and energy into, but there's also my batting. I've just got to remember not to let that slip and just keep preparing in the way I normally do."

Favourite

Smith quickly became a favourite with County fans when he had an outstanding first term at New Road last summer.

It ended with him deservedly being voted as Worcestershire Supporters' Association's Player of the Year after excelling in both forms of cricket.

Smith, however, is well aware that last year's efforts are now history and that he needs to regularly reproduce the same kind of high-scoring form this season.

He said: "You always look to work hard on your game going into a new season. We had a good pre-season and time in the nets to actually mentally prepare to get off to a good start. I think that's probably what I did and I was expecting to start well."

And his expectations were certainly fulfilled when he immediately slipped into the ton-up groove against Hants.

He said: "It's good to get a century, but you can never score enough.

"You get to a hundred and you want to go on and make a big hundred. It's just a shame that they took the new ball and knocked me over with that.

"It just goes to show if I'd put a few more on and we'd got a few more first innings it might have given us a bit more time to bowl them out second innings. So you can criticise anybody even an innings like that with a hundred."

Smith believes his secret to a lofty innings is establishing a firm base - however long it takes.

"What it is with me is I look to get to 20. I know then that I am most likely 'in' then. If it's taken an hour then good, if it hasn't then I'm seeing the ball well.

"Apart from that my targets have to be match-winning performances and playing well in the right situations."

Although it's still early days, Smith has seen enough from the New Road squad to suggest that they are fully capable of realising their promotion ambitions.

"Everybody is looking in good shape. The pre-season tour did us a world of good, jut to get together as a team and play well.

"Everybody has pulled their weight. The commitment from all the players has been fantastic."