SKIPPER James Foster wants Essex to be competing for trophies on all fronts this season.

Essex ended 2012 without a trophy, finishing fifth in Division Two of the LV= County Championship and under-achieving in one-day cricket.

Foster said: “We want to be winning games of cricket. We are in three competitions and we want to win all three. You don’t play to come second or third – you want to win them.

“We were disappointing in 40-over cricket last year, so we have a point to prove in that.

“In the T20 we reached the quarter-finals and in four-day cricket we were not where we wanted to be. From my point of view I want to be competing for all three trophies.”

Foster is excited by all three of Essex’s signings this season – former Lancashire and England seamer Saj Mahmood, Australian batsman Rob Quiney and Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait.

He said of Mahmood: “I think he will have a huge impact. He has wintered well and trained hard. We have five other seam bowlers, so we are very pleased with our attack.”

Quiney will be aiming to impress as the county’s overseas player for the first three months of the season, especially as places in Australia’s batting line-up for this summer’s Ashes series are far from settled.

Foster said: “He will be excited about a new challenge of being an overseas player, and he may have half an eye on what is going on in Australia.

“The fact he is in England it is a great opportunity for him to show what he can do.”

One-day specialist Tait has been signed to spearhead the bowling attack in Essex’s FL t20 campaign this summer.

“Part of the reason we wanted him is that he can win you games of cricket with his express pace and get wickets up front,” added Foster.