WE bowled well and created chances to start with in our LV= County Championship Division Two game against Hampshire, but failed to take them.

It was a good toss to win with the conditions overhead, a bit of a green top to the pitch and the weather we’ve had recently.

Having had them at 23-2, we should have done better, but it was a good partnership between Liam Dawson and James Vince and 400-plus was a great effort by them as it should have been around 250 all out on that pitch.

In our reply, it was good to see everyone getting starts but, if I’m being ultra-critical, someone in the top seven should have gone on to get a hundred. Still, 351-8 was a good effort.

Ben Cox has shown glimpses of what he is capable of this season and he has improved as a cricketer — particularly with his keeping — and he has played some good cameos in one-day cricket.

He is a very good striker of a cricket ball and that’s because he has worked hard in the gym and got a lot stronger.

Against Hampshire, Graeme Cessford struggled, but that will happen sometimes as he has not played a lot of cricket.

He has done well since coming into the side and his statistics show that, but he had a bad game and that can happen to the best of us.

Aneesh Kapil and Michael Johnson will be leaving the club at the end of this season and that is part and parcel of the game — players come in and players go out each year.

I’m sure both of them — particularly Aneesh — will find somewhere new for next season.

Johnno got a few runs for the seconds, but he probably didn’t score enough in the first team even though he had plenty of opportunities, so he will be disappointed with his contributions.

We have a quiet week this week, before our final game of the season next week when we play Northamptonshire at New Road.

Before that, we have the Worcestershire Cup to play for — our annual golf competition.

We will be playing at Sapey Golf Club and it should be good to see all members of the squad out on the course.

Unfortunately, as a past winner, I have been harshly handicapped.

But I think Tom Fell, as a first timer, will be the favourite as he is a good golfer, playing off eight.

The biggest bandit will be ‘Bumpy’ (director of cricket Steve Rhodes) as he always gives himself a few extra shots!