DOMINIC Cork is making a big impact with the Lancashire side - both in terms of his performance performances and his influence on others.

It is hardly surprising as we all knew that Corky was a class act when he joined the club.

But moving from Derbyshire to Lancashire seems to have given him a new found freedom.

With all due respect to Derbyshire, he will have been under pressure to find four or five wickets per innings, but with Lancashire's attack there is nothing like the pressure to get wickets.

Because they know they have bowlers of both proven quality and great potential in the side, wickets will get shared around and that means Cork can have a more relaxed approach.

And that means he has time to help our up-and-coming talents.

Already looking strong this season is paceman Sajid Mahmood, who has benefited from his winter away on duty with the England Academy side.

Sajid has had some great reviews both before the Tour and for his performances while away, but he seems to be getting down to the main job of showing that the reviews are on the mark.

It is all well and good being marked out as a promising player, but what you have to do is get your head down and show people that you can do the job - Sajid looks to have the right approach.

LANCASHIRE must feel like the cats that have got the cream at the moment.

In the first week of the season they showed that they have plenty of fire in their batting line-up as a strong display against Northants was followed by a comprehensive win over champions Sussex at Hove.

Stuart Law, Iain Sutcliffe and Carl Hooper were all straight into their strides with centuries and Mal Loye must have been sat on the sidelines wondering how he would fit in after missing the games due to a calf strain.

But Mal must have a smile a mile wide after Sunday's victory over Northants in the opening game of the one-day league.

In many ways he was under pressure to show that he also could produce the runs - and to prove that point with such a strong knock against his old county will have satisfied him.

But Lancashire's strong start is perhaps all down to the fact that they prepared well in the winter and have been on the road ever since the start of the season.

They worked hard together on the tour to South Africa and that will have helped the team knit as a unit.

They had a short break at home before the season started and now have had over a week on the road playing competitive cricket.

The bonds already made before the season will now have been reinforced by the fixture card and you can see that in the team displays they have put in.

And it was important that they made a good start because it is far easier to keep your momentum going after winning a couple of games, than to try and scratch together a victory if you have started on the back-foot.

It is still early days and when you look at Kent and Middlesex up at the top of the championship with Lancashire, you have to think that the pattern might change.

But for those sides a couple of good results will have helped their season too.

Lancashire, despite many pundits marking them out as the title favourites, know they have to make the most of the opportunity the successes have handed them.

It is all too easy for Lancashire to lose a couple of games to the weather and find that their rivals down south have been playing and all of a sudden their is a 20 or 30 point gap between them in the table.

So it is imperative that the side keep the pressure on.