SURREY legend Alec Stewart is backing rookie skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown to be a success with the Brown Caps this season.

Former England captain Stewart says it does not matter that Hamilton-Brown lacks experience and insists he must lead in his own style.

He said: "My advice would be the same as for any captain in that you must do things your way.

"He is going to listen, take on board advice from the other players, the management and maybe even people outside of the county but he has got to make his own decisions as that will be key.

"Also from his own point of view he has to perform, he has to score runs, take wickets and hold onto his catches.

"It is no different from if you are 22 or 38 you always have to perform and be making your own decisions.

"I have known Rory since he was 12. He was desperate to play first team cricket which is why he went down to Sussex where he made a very good impression.

"He was the type of cricketer we wanted back and Chris Adams went about it in a very professional manor to make sure that he got his man."

Stewart admitted he was looking for signs the team was moving in the right direction.

"I'm looking to see an improvement from last year. The county has struggled for the last five years or so. There has been some tough changes made at the end of last summer.

"We now have a new captain in Rory, a couple of new signings in Stephen Davies, Gareth Batty and Chris Tremlett who has come up from Hampshire. So we've brought in lots of quality and while we have lost some experience it is a year we have to improve. We are looking to show the members, the supporters and the country that we're not a county that is down in the doldrums but a county that is looking to make progress. While that is not going to happen overnight, we'll want to show that we can move forward."

Stewart, who scored more than 26,000 first class runs, said it he did not think it would take the new players long to bed in.

"The boys have been together all winter, a minimum of three days a week.

"Rory is a new captain but he knows a lot of them as he went through the age groups here with a lot of them.

"I've been at the Oval and I know the spirit there is good."