We need to make Edgbaston a real fortress
IT’S the first competitive home game of the season tomorrow and the excitement at returning to Edgbaston for another season is as high as ever.
I speak for the whole squad when I say that none of us ever get tired of playing at this special ground. It’s a fantastic place to have the chance to perform regularly and hopefully we can make it something of a fortress this season.
We couldn’t have asked for a much tougher start to our home County Championship season than the visit of Yorkshire. For them to win back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015 was a fantastic effort and they are very much a force to be reckoned with in what is an extremely strong division.
It goes without saying that last week’s result at Surrey was extremely disappointing.
You never want to lose a match by an innings and we know as a team we didn’t perform as we could, particularly over the first two days at The Oval against a team who look very strong.
We were not quite ‘at it’ with the ball on the first day and to be bowled out for 91 was well below the high standards we set ourselves.
The positive for me, though, was the way we fought back with bat and ball.
We got better with the ball as the Surrey innings went on and Chris Wright , who had the boost of an early-season five wicket haul, and Oliver Hannon-Dalby both bowled well at the end of the Surrey innings.
With the bat, we showed a real determination to dig in during our second innings and, while it was too little too late to rescue the game, it bodes well for the season ahead.
One thing that shone through at The Oval was what big assets our sport director and first team coach – Ashley Giles and Jim Troughton – will be behind the scenes this season.
It’s fair to say there were some harsh words from both of them after the first couple of days and rightly so.
As a group of players, we want to be pulled up and criticised when we haven’t performed as we can and both Ashley and Jim have shown they won’t be afraid to do that.
The first game has gone now and we move on.
The Championship was never going to be decided in the first four days of the season and we have a lot of cricket to look forward to.
I’m still very confident we have a lot of talent in the squad and, if we reach our potential regularly, we will have a very good season in the four-day game.
There was a bit of a landmark for me this week as I turned 35 on Tuesday.
I think it’s fair to say that classes me as one of the elder statesmen of the dressing room but I can put up with the ribbing from the lads that comes with that! I’m touching wood when I say this but my body seems to be holding up pretty well and long may that continue.
We were in the field for 140 overs in that first innings against Surrey and I didn’t feel any worse for wear physically.
While I don’t want to be doing that every week, it is reassuring to know I can still do it.