It was pretty close ...

We gained our first win in the top division of the county championship when we beat Kent up at Tunbridge Wells, but it was a pretty close fought match throughout.

After winning the toss and deciding to bat first we did well to get to 208 all out - especially after we had slipped to 8o odd for six at one point and things certainly did not go according to plan.

Pete Trego played a vital innings to help us get to where we did. He is really in good form at the moment and getting wickets as well as scoring runs.

We knew after that we had to fight hard to get any kind of result out of that game and in the end we did pretty well.

We managed to dismiss them with only a 60 run lead thanks again to Pete Trego who took four wickets.

Then Marcus’s big hundred was the key innings for us. The way he batted at Kent typifies the way that he is playing at the minute, and although he isn’t enjoying the best of form in white ball cricket certainly in the red ball game he is playing superbly.

Steffan Jones bowled fantastically well in the Kent second innings and with five down over night we knew that we had to get couple of wickets early on which he did for us. He bowled a great spell and got four wickets in 10 balls to set us on our way.

Even though we have been playing good cricket in the four-day competition we had not won a game so to get the Kent result under our belts was a big sense of relief for us all.

We knew a win had to come, but because we are now in the first division we know that they are not going to come as easily as they did last season.

It was a shame that the rain ruined our chances of playing against Gloucestershire in the Friends Provident Trophy at Bath on Monday because we were looking to try to get our own back on them for beating us up at Bristol.

However by the time that this is printed we will know whether or not we are through to the last eight of the competition and who we will be playing against, so lets hope we can get the result we want at Cardiff on Wednesday and take the next step on the road to Lord’s.

We are playing some good cricket in the four day competition so have to feel pretty confident going up to Whitgift School to take on Surrey on Friday.

If we can try to get more first innings batting points than we have up until now it will stand us in better stead for the second time round and help us to set up a winning position.

The teams in the first division of the championship are stronger than some of the ones that we played against last season in the second division and the ones that we have come up against so far have all had quality bowling attacks. We are all up for the fight and this season is a great opportunity for us to prove just what we can do against the best players in England.

Bouncebackability

Our win against Worcestershire in the Friends Provident Trophy was a fantastic result for us, and one that we very much needed to bounce back from our two previous defeats in this competition.

I thought the guys responded really well and the energy levels from everybody out there on the field were just fantastic.

We had a bit of a setback early on but then a good partnership between Justin Langer and myself set up a good total for us to bowl at.

Justin batted superbly well so I knew that I had to stay out there and get some runs at the other end. In the end the partnership that we shared turned out to be a vital contribution to us winning the match.

Now we have another big match in the Friends Provident when we take on our old rivals Gloucestershire at Bath on Bank Holiday Monday and after they beat us at Bristol in the competition we will be even more determined to get our own back

It was very frustrating not to have beaten Sussex in our county championship match last week because we feel that we outplayed the reigning champions for the whole time in just about all departments of the game.

The Sussex match wasn’t like the game against Hampshire where we had one poor session that cost us most of our bonus points.

It was a very flat wicket and one where it was difficult to get anything for the bowlers, which I think we are trying to look at but at the end of the day we have just got to run in and give 100%, which is what all the boys did in the Sussex game so it is very frustrating that we only got 12 points.

However we did full batting and bowling points for the first time this season. Last year we did this very well and we know that put sides under pressure you have to score big runs in the first innings which is something we managed to do successfully against Sussex.

Sides do feel under pressure when you out 550 runs on the board, which is something we want to keep going and take into the next game against Kent at Tunbridge Wells.

It was great to see Ben Phillips contribute so much with both the bat and ball in the game, especially after he had such a frustrating time last season. His confidence is growing and we are all delighted for him.

Our game at Tunbridge Wells this week is an important one for us because at the moment although we haven’t been beaten yet we are at the bottom of the table, which isn’t a true reflection of how we are playing at the moment.

We have so far played against two very good sides, Lancashire and Sussex, and one not so strong, but we think that Kent are a side that we can beat so we will be going there playing the positive cricket that we have been for the last couple of weeks.

We have got to keep it tight and not get frustrated and if we carry on doing the things that we did in the Sussex game then we will get a result sooner or later. It is just a case of keep on building on the blocks that we have laid and we will get the results we want in the end.
I have never played at Tunbridge Wells before, although I have played against Kent at both Canterbury and Maidstone, but I understand it is a nice little ground so I looking forward to it and hope that we can get a win from our visit.

A topsy-turvy time

The championship match against Hampshire turned out to be a bit of a topsy-turvy encounter which was obviously affected by us losing the toss on what was a pretty green looking and wet wicket.

We got bundled out cheaply and they had a lot of momentum taking wickets. It was hard for us to stem the flow and we folded but then fought our way back into the match.

I think we did well to bowl them out for 359, after which we knew we had to bat for a day and a half which we did. Marcus Trescothick and Justin Langer managed a fantastic partnership and both of them scoring over 150 was a big bonus for us.

Zander de Bruyn just missed out on getting his hundred, which was really good for him on his championship debut for the county and Pete Trego also got runs at the end to set up a big total for us to hopefully bowl Hampshire out.

A draw wasn’t the result we were looking for, but we are still unbeaten in the first division of the county championship.

We were all very disappointed by the result from the game against Gloucestershire in Bristol. All the boys feel that we should have beaten both Glamorgan and Gloucestershire to have been at the top of the table, so to let the advantage slip is not what we wanted.

We need to win if we are going to progress and get through to the Lord’s final, so all the lads are kicking themselves.

Sussex are our opponents for this round of championship matches which is great because we have always wanted to play first division cricket and take on the best.

Over the past few years they have proven themselves to be the best so it should be a good game that we will be going out to win to boost our points.

We are coming into a bit of form from the second half of the Hampshire game so we will be looking to keep that going. However we all know that there are no easy games this year so they will present us with quite a challenge.

I look forward to playing against good teams and good bowling attacks because if you get runs against them then you know that you are doing pretty well.

This Sunday’s Friends Provident Trophy game against Worcestershire is massive and could prove to be pivotal in the competition because realistically we have to beat them here and Glamorgan away. We will then hopefully try to get something from the Gloucestershire game at Bath to get through to the last eight.

We are not out of the competition but it looks like Gloucester are the ones to catch so we have got to make sure we get the results against the other two.

Lord's is where we all want to be

It was disappointing for us to lose out to Glamorgan in the Friends Provident Trophy on Sunday, especially after getting off to such a good start in the competition.

This is the only one day competition which is played to the same format as One Day International matches and it is also the only competition which has got a Lord’s final - a place where all cricketers want to play if they can.

I have got some very fond memories of us lifting the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Lord’s back in 2001 and along with the rest of the Somerset team we are very keen to repeat that experience this season.

After being unable to get the game up at Worcester completed the previous weekend, to go down to The Rose Bowl and beat a big side like Hampshire was very pleasing. It was a good all round team effort with James Hildreth who made an unbeaten 112 for us batting absolutely magnificently.

Hampshire were boosted by having Kevin Pietersen in their side so to notch up the double over them tasted even sweeter.

Zander de Bruyn played beautifully on his Somerset debut and his innings of 79 was very much in the Keith Parson mould, very controlled and showed what an experienced player he is. He looks like a great addition to the side for 2008.

We then came back to Taunton on Sunday where we threw the match away. Glamorgan did have a good attack which included Jason Gillespie and Jamie Dalrymple but we let it slip badly to lose out when we were only chasing 220 odd to win.

If we had beaten Glamorgan on Sunday we would have seven points from our four games, Now we know that we need to try to win as many of the remaining matches to be certain of qualifying for the last eight of the Friends Provident, the first of which is up at Bristol on Sunday against Gloucestershire, which is always a tough place to play.

Alfonso Thomas looks to be another quality addition to the squad and bowled the ball in good areas on Sunday. He may not be too tall but he certainly gets the ball to skid through and will be a very useful player for Somerset.

We are currently playing our first Division One LV County Championship match at the County Ground this season against Hampshire.

This is another huge match for us and after our good showing up at Lancashire we will be looking to do even better against Hampshire even though they have got some quality players and are likely to have England player Pietersen in their team.