Losing wickets in clusters cost us dear

It was hugely disappointing that we didn’t qualify for the quarter-finals of this year’s Twenty 20 Cup. We were very inconsistent in the competition and this was reflected in our results.

The key factors were losing wickets in clusters in a lot of the games, which you can’t afford to do when you have only got a short innings which I think was proven with the opposition who beat us.

We know we let ourselves down and we also know that this is something that we are going to have to rectify going into the Pro40, which starts for us on Sunday July 20th when we travel to Arundel to play against Sussex.

The massive game for us in the Twenty20 was up at Warwickshire where Justin Langer and Marcus Trescothick got us off to a brilliant start, but then both got out in the same over, which is a cardinal sin in any form of cricket.

We then lost five wickets in a short period which really cost us dear. Even so we still managed to score 178 which we believed was enough runs to defend. I don’t think that our bowling kicked in that game. Everything went against us and they played some good cricket.

When you are top of the league those sorts of games go for you whereas when you are fighting to get a win you maybe try too hard.

In the first three games we got off to good starts but our batting let us down in the middle order and we couldn’t post big enough totals.

Looking back over the whole tournament I think we were probably not quite good enough in all of the games we played.

I have been disappointed with myself in the Twenty20 this year, which within a team’s disappointment as well, has probably highlighted that I haven’t done so well- but its just one of those things.

I have maybe tried too hard, looking at what the bigger picture is with the England Premier League coming on board, the IPL is very much to the forefront and there is an England Twenty20 tournament as well and they are obviously looking for players to pick for that.

Maybe I looked a bit too far ahead instead of the present stuff and what I should be thinking of, which is every individual performance for Somerset and maybe that has backfired on me thinking that I am better than I am in the Twenty20.

The IPL would be another challenge for me. Pitting yourself against the best in the world, in a league which is the best in the world because they are buying the best players, is something Id like to think that I could do a job in.

I am not saying that I would definitely go well out there but I am a confident guy and there is room for English guys to go out and play in that. Whether that is me or somebody else I don’t know but you have got to back that up with performances in the domestic Twenty20 which is something I haven’t done this year.

I have got a couple of niggles which haven’t disappeared, which have been a concern for this year and last year so I have been given a few days rest. The game against South Africa was targeted for me for a personal rest leading up to the Durham game to enable me to get myself more fresh after all the intense cricket during the first half of the season.
I am happy to have some time to re-charge the batteries before going up to Durham in a positive frame of mind, ready for the second half of the season.