CARTER'S STOCK ON THE RISE; Neil seeks big gains on and off the pitch CRICKET: COUNTIES SET FOR FIRST BATTLES OF NEW CAMPAIGN.

Byline: By ANDY WALKER 

WARWICKSHIRE'S Neil Carter aims to see off Simon Jones again this week - before turning his attention back to the Dow Jones.

The new-look Bears get their LV County Championship Divison Two campaign under way this week when Worcestershire's ex-England man Jones and Co head to Edgbaston.

The hosts will have the psychological edge when Wednesday arrives after chalking up two convincing pre-season victories over their neighbours.

And Carter will be looking to continue his purple patch against the Pears having chalked up an entertaining 47 during Monday's nine-wicket friendly victory at Edgbaston.

The highlight of Carter's innings were some big shots off the bowling of Jones, whose six overs cost 45, and the England-qualified South African will be hoping to put the Welshman to the sword once again on Wednesday.

The all-rounder may be fully focused on the crunch meeting with his local rivals but it's been the current credit crunch that has grabbed the big hitter's attention in recent weeks.

That's because Carter has found the ideal way to switch off from cricket with a spot of wheeling and dealing in the stock market. The 33-year-old recently took his hobby one step further by attending a stock market training course in London, which was funded by the Professional Cricketers' Association, and he has since set up his own trading account.

And Carter admits that checking the market on the internet is the ideal therapy to get over a bad session at the crease.

"I started about two winters ago but I had always had an interest. Figures and finance have always been up there in my interests so I went on a couple of stock market courses," he said.

Success

"I've got my own trading account and I always look out for a good opportunity to buy or sell. I went on to do beginner, intermediate and advanced courses with a company in London after a bit of help from the PCA, who funded it.

"I had some success in the early days.

Fortunately, I managed to sell most of my stuff before the big downturn. I've still been spread-betting the markets here and there over the last few months. I'm going to see how it pans out and look to invest again in the future.

"I think you've got to have interests outside of cricket because the sport can sometimes feel like it's 24/7. It's great to go home, switch off and go on the internet to do a bit of stuff and check out the charts. It stops you thinking if you've done badly in a game and helps move your mind on, it's the freshness that your brain needs.

"It's a nice variety, to go from facing a few deliveries to buying and selling."

There was a time last season when Carter must have been thinking that his future lay solely in the stock exchange as he faced being dumped on the cricket scrap heap by former Bears boss Mark Greatbatch.

But following Greatbatch's departure and Ashley Giles' arrival at the helm alongside Allan Donald, Carter did a U-turn on his proposed Edgbaston exit to pen a new one-year deal with Warwickshire.

Having been dogged with injury in recent seasons, Carter is entering his eighth campaign with the Bears in a positive frame of mind and that is a far cry from how he felt last July.

"Towards the end of last season I was told that I probably wouldn't be required anymore so obviously I looked around and realised that I still wanted to play the game because I was still enjoying it. It was not as if I had performed badly for the Bears, I was just injured and I missed quite a bit of the cricket.

"There was nothing much that I could say or do, I just had to move on and play somewhere else. I had a knee niggle and that was on my mind but that all seems to be OK now. I knew that I could still contribute, there's no point giving up unless you're not performing. When I came back and played I had a great end to the season now I'm looking forward to this season.

"It was disappointing but I knew that if I was picked again during the end of last season then I would perform and I did that to win another contract.

"It's good to be back in a whole new setup and structure. It's a young squad and we are one of two counties not to have any Kolpaks so all our players are England qualified, which is good for the club."

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WARWICKSHIRE

Captain: Darren Maddy Coach: Ashley Giles Overseas players: M Zondeki (SA) Ins: T Frost, A Botha (Derbyshire), R Johnson, C Macleod, B Rankin (Derbyshire), I Salisbury (Surrey) Outs: M Barnes, D Brown, A Giles, P Harris, A Loudon, K Sangakkara, A Shantry (Glamorgan), D Steyn, H Streak Prospects: After a conspicuously turbulent - not to say bad - season under Mark Greatbatch, new coaching incumbent Ashley Giles should have plenty of goodwill. He ought to be able to oversee a more productive year.

CAPTION(S):

NUMBERS GAME: Neil Carter