Jim Troughton: Warwickshire's new coach wants to take pressure off Ian Bell

Warwickshire sport director Ashley Giles (left) and new Bears coach Jim Troughton (right) were officially unveiled by chief executive Neil Snowball at an Edgbaston press conference

Warwickshire coach Jim Troughton says that one of the main aims in his new role is to take enough responsibility off Ian Bell to help the Bears get the best out of their skipper.

In his first season after becoming county captain, Bell, 34, made only 678 runs in 15 Championship games.

But Troughton will act as a buffer in 2017 under sport director Ashley Giles.

"For me, it is all about taking as much responsibility as I can off Belly," Troughton told BBC WM.

"He can then concentrate on the team on the field and looking after his own game. If he does that, then he's going to be scoring lots of runs for Warwickshire, the team are going to be playing for him and we'll be winning games of cricket."

Troughton, who first became Bell's Bears team-mate in 2002, has always had a close rapport, strengthened by the fact that he is married to Bell's sister-in-law.

But the 37-year-old, who played six one-day internationals for England admits: "Anything he's achieved on the field, or I have on or off it, is pretty much separate and has nothing to do with the fact that our two wives are sisters.

"Within the relationship I've had with him from a very early age, I've got to know what he's all about as a leader. And we're both big and ugly enough to be able to challenge each other in many ways.

"There are going to be times when you're not going not going to agree but, if it's for the better of the team, then you're willing to have those conversations."

Jim Troughton (left) was captain when Ashley Giles' Bears won the County Championship in 2012

'It feels like coming home'

The Bears' new backroom set-up was finally unveiled on Monday, a wait of over two months from previous boss Dougie Brown's departure to persuading Lancashire to release Giles from his existing Lancashire contract.

It was not until Christmas Day that Giles told his family about his new job back at Edgbaston, four years on from his exit to work as England's limited-overs boss.

But, while Bell has been busy sharpening up his T20 skills in Australia's Big Bash, scoring 160 runs in five matches for Perth Scorchers, plans were already being made back at Edgbaston.

Giles' main brief is to find the next generation of Bells and Troughtons, leaving the coach and the captain to concentrate on first-team results, especially in the Championship, in which the Bears only won three times in 16 matches last season.

"It does feel like coming home," said Giles. "But I have to be careful with saying that because I enjoyed two really good years with Lancashire and I don't want it to look like I simply shot off when a job came up near my house.

"The personal aspect was a big one. Being away from home became very difficult in my second year. But the role I have is now different and much broader. Had it been the same as before, it would not have been the right role."

Jim Troughton & Ashley Giles were talking to BBC WM's Richard Wilford.

Ian Bell (left) and Jim Troughton were Warwickshire team-mates from 2002 until the new Bears coach's retirement in 2014, helping the Bears win four trophies together