CONSISTENCY will be key to Worcestershire’s young squad being competitive during the 2014 campaign, according to New Road skipper Daryl Mitchell.

Following the winter departure of veteran seamer Alan Richardson, Mitchell is one of the few experienced players in the County squad at the age of 30.

Alongside the likes of Moeen Ali, Gareth Andrew and overseas signing Saeed Ajmal, Mitchell the County captain will hope to inspire mature performances out of Worcestershire’s crop of up-and-coming youngsters.

Mitchell and The Worcestershire squad have just returned from an 11-day pre-season tour in Abu Dhabi, where they played a series of matches against Ireland, the Netherlands, Derbyshire and New Zealand in various formats of the game.

The homegrown opener opening batsman saw encouraging signs from his players at various times last season, but wants them to deliver on a consistent basis this term.

Worcestershire continue their build-up to the new season today when they begin a three-day friendly against Somerset at Taunton.

Mitchell, who is approaching his 10th season as a first-team player, said: “I think we showed what we are capable of last season.

“It’s a case of performing to that level week in, week out, simple as that. We didn’t do it enough last year and that’s something we will be striving to do.

“There were some highs, but too many lows for my liking and we need to find a formula that can be a little bit more consistent this time.

“The more you play, the more experience you get and the more consistent you become.

“But I don’t think we can keep hiding from the fact we are a young side. These young players need to start producing. There are a lot of guys now who have played a fair amount of first-class and list ‘A’ cricket.”

Worcestershire begin their home warm-up programme on Monday with a one-day game against Gloucestershire at Kidderminster.