It felt like a Test match!

We certainly had a tough opening match on our return to top division championship cricket up at Old Trafford, where we had to fight all the way against Lancashire, who really are a quality outfit.

With the number of international players involved and the atmosphere out on the field, it felt like we were playing in a Test match!

I know we would all have wanted to win our first game back at the top. But with the state of the weather and the conditions we had to bat in, I think we all left feeling satisfied that we had fought all the way and taken the same amount of points as they had from the match.

I have been pretty pleased with my opening form with the bat this season. After having a disappointing time batting-wise last year, by my standards, I felt I had something to prove. So to get 86 against Hampshire in the Friends Provident and follow that up with two half centuries against an international bowling attack was exactly what I needed to do.

I was keen to start well and, with the pressure on places, I know I have to keep it going if I want to hold on to my place in the team.

The weather did us no favours in Sunday’s one-day game at Worcester and, having virtually got them all out for 150, I would certainly have backed us to have won the game and taken two more points. As it is, now we have three from our two games.

We have got two Friends Provident matches coming up in the space of three days this weekend. The first one is going to be a tough one, taking on Hampshire down at The Rose Bowl and, after beating them here at Taunton, they will be looking to get their revenge on Friday afternoon.

However we will be just as keen to take the two points from the game to boost our chances of going through to the quarter-final stages of this competition.

On Sunday we take on Glamorgan back here at Taunton and, after our last performance at home, we will be hoping that a good crowd comes along to cheer us on to hopefully another home win.

The arrival of Zander De Bruyn has put us all under even more pressure to perform well whenever we go out onto the pitch. He is a top-class all-rounder so we all know we have to do well to keep our places in the team.

The selectors have got a real headache at the club now and I think that they were very brave to retain the same 11 players who won the previous game for the match at Worcester on Sunday. Nobody has the divine right to a place in the team so it is fiercely competitive for places at the club this year.

Next week we play our first championship match of the season when we take on Hampshire on Wednesday. They are a good side and will be tough opponents for us but we will be playing hard to try to chalk up our first win in the red ball competition.