EXPERIENCED Somerset pair Marcus Trescothick and James Hildreth believe the club are well set to compete at the right end of the table in 2018.

Both were inconsistent last summer, though Trescothick made history by scoring his 50th Somerset century and Hildreth saved his best until last, recording a vital ton in the win over Middlesex which kept the team up.

Looking ahead to his 26th First Class season, Trescothick said: “The preparation has gone as well as could be expected. 

“I’m relatively happy – we’d have loved to have played more games but it’s not been possible. I haven’t seen the weather as consistently bad as this, it’s been non-stop.”

Trescothick made effective use of a rare dry weekend by scoring 75 and 96 against Ireland, while Hildreth also looked in good touch.

The 33-year-old said: “We haven’t had a lot of cricket but I’ve felt good when I’ve batted. 

“From a team point of view we are building quite nicely – we’ve had guys coming back from England duty and we are all confident.”

Run returns of 756 (Hildreth) and 714 (Trescothick) were perhaps below what the pair would have been aiming for at the start of last season, though only three batsmen topped 1,000 in Division One and all three were representing Surrey on good batting wickets at the Oval.

Such statistics could lead to top-order batsmen re-assessing what constitutes a successful year, but Hildreth said: “With 16 games, I looked at 1000 runs as an alright season and 1250 as a good season, so I think 1000 is now a good season. 

“Batsmen should be looking to get 1000 runs. I will still go in looking to do so – it’s a tough ask in 14 games but if you want to be winning Championships that’s what you need to do.

“If we can start how we ended like last year we’ll be fine, but at the start of last year most of us were out of form.

“I’ve never seen it like that before. You normally get one or two out of form but not everyone.

“We have a bowling attack that can bowl teams out twice, I have no doubt about that at all, so we need our batsmen to get runs - if you can go on a run at any point and win three or four games on the spin you’ll be in with a shout.”

Trescothick, meanwhile, has been putting in the hard yards with young opening partner Eddie Byrom over the winter.

The 42-year-old said: “We’ve worked quite a lot with me as the coach and him as the batsman, so there are little things which crop up rather than one big lesson. 

“The way we communicate and understand our game is important. The opening partnership is always vital for any team – hopefully we can get us off to good starts.”

Every appearance Trescothick makes this season will be savoured by the Taunton faithful, who again will only see the batsman play against the red ball.

This opens up a sizable gap in Trescothick's calendar at the height of summer as short-form cricket takes over, but the opener was understanding of the difficulties faced in fitting everything in.

Asked if he would rather see more Championship cricket at the height of summer, he said: “Of course I would.

“This year I’ll be more of a coach when the 50-overs is on and do a bit of TV work for the T20. 

“You’re constantly trying to work out the best method – do you play all the second team games, do you play none – everybody has their own way. 

“I think the balance is OK at the moment – if you are playing all three formats it seems to work.”