The Red Rose outfit clinched their first County Championship title since 1934 on a dramatic final day to the 2011 season and will attempt to retain the crown amidst fierce competition this summer.

Sussex travel to the North West to provide Moores' men with their first four-day challenge on Thursday and, after a successful pre-season trip to Abu Dhabi, the former England coach believes his players are in great shape for the season-opener.

He told Sky Sports: "The lads are very keen to get up and running after watching everyone else play last week. There were some good performances by some of the sides, getting some wins so we're very keen to get off against Sussex, which will be a very tough game, but we're looking forward to it.

Excited

"Sussex got beat (by 86 runs at Surrey) last week and will be keen to get going and it will be a good scrap this week.

"We've had decent practice. We went out to Abu Dhabi with the MCC and played a four-day game there, had a three-day game against Cambridge which was good practice too. I think everyone is ready to go, the main thing will be remaining calm at the early stages of the season because everyone is so excited after waiting four/five months to go back out there."

Lancashire were surprise champions last season, sneaking up unnoticed to beat the likes of Durham, Nottinghamshire, Somerset and closest challengers Warwickshire to the crown.

Moores recognises that his side may have been underestimated last year, but despite that, he expects his players to be well in the title shake-up once again this summer.

Asked if he believes his side can retain the title, he said: "We're going to have a good go at it. I think we are competitive. We have been in the top four for three years in a row now so we can safely say the group of players are really competitive and are going to get stuck in.

"I don't think people expected us to win it last year. It was very tight, Warwickshire also had a fantastic season and they came on the blindside as well.

"People will be looking out for us because we won it last year but similar we've been together another year and we know we can get over the line. We have that in our advantage.

Prince return

"We're going to take nothing for granted. It's going to be really tough because the league looks as strong as ever with Surrey and Middlesex coming up from the second division."

South Africa international batsman Ashwell Prince returns as the club's overseas recruit for at least the first half of the season in what will be his third stint with the county.

His signing comes as a real boost for Moores, who has not given up hope of retaining his services for the whole summer, should South Africa not require him in the upcoming Test series against England.

He added: "Ash has been with us twice before in 2009 and 2010 and replaces Mark Chilton who retired last year. It's really important for us to have a senior batter who is a great bloke off the field as well as on it, but most important for me, Ash tends to save his best performances for when it gets really tight and the pressure is on.

"We know we have him for the first half of the season but it depends what happens with him and South Africa squad later whether he's with us for the whole year."