SHANE WARNE is by no means the only quality Australian on show in Division Two of the County Championship this season.

But, while talking about which counties could do well, a lot might depend on which have their Aussie stars available for the most games.

Hampshire will lose Warne and Michael Clarke at some stage, but most of their Second Division rivals will be in the same boat.

Yorkshire have a strong overseas pair in Aussies Darren Lehmann and Ian Harvey.

Lehmann is a prolific runscorer in the English domestic game while Harvey has a new challenge ahead of him after five hugely successful years as an all-rounder at Gloucestershire.

At Nottinghamshire Warne's fellow Aussie Test leg-spinner Stuart MacGill is joined by Damien Martyn.

And Warne's Test skipper, Ricky Ponting, will no doubt score heavily during his time at Somerset.

But all those above mentioned players could miss games when Australia tour Zimbabwe next month and welcome Sri Lanka in June and July.

In addition, there is the ICC one-day trophy in England - the Rose Bowl is one of the venues hosting matches - taking place in September.

So all that could mean Glamorgan and Durham having good seasons.

Glamorgan's two Aussies, Matt Elliott and Mike Kasprowicz, are less likely to be required by their country while Herschelle Gibbs and Shaoib Akhtar, injury permitting, might spur Durham into some real form.

But despite the presence of another quality Aussie batsman in Chris Rogers, expect Derbyshire, bottom in 2003, to struggle again.

And Leicestershire's winter recruits don't exactly inspire vast amounts of confidence for their prospects either.

Success in the four-day game remains the benchmark by which a team's performance can be judged.

Witness Hampshire's relative disappointment at their 2003 efforts as an example of that.

Even though the county went up in the one-day league, their Championship form was a huge disappointment.

A second-from-bottom finish followed on from top-flight relegation in 2002, so Warne and Clarke will be fighting to end two years of failure this summer.

Can they go up in the four-day game?

To put themselves in with a chance, they need bigger and better contributions from more players than in 2003.

A year ago only Aussie Simon Katich, John Crawley and Nic Pothas really impressed with the bat consistently, while the seam bowling department was hampered by injuries to Wasim Akram and Ed Giddins.

Only two bowlers - Dimi Mascarenhas (39) and the evergreen Shaun Udal (36) - took more than 30 first class wickets, and Hampshire will be relying on the likes of Billy Taylor and Chris Tremlett to bowl them to victory rather than just relying on Warne to weave his magic day in day out.

While promotion isn't inconceivable, another summer spent down amongst the strugglers certainly would be for ultra-ambitious chairman Rod Bransgrove.

SEE TODAY'S DAILY ECHO FOR A COUNTY CRICKET PREVIEW.