WE were completely outplayed against Warwickshire at New Road in the LV= County Championship and it was desperately disappointing to lose the game inside two days.

After Somerset chased down 400 runs to beat Nottinghamshire, we have slipped to the bottom of the table.

We have to focus on our own efforts and trying to win three or four games, which I know we can achieve.

After starting well with the bat, we were 104-2 at lunch on the first day and, despite 50 from Joe Clarke, to get dismissed for 243 was an under-par score for the wicket.

We started superbly with the ball before Ian Bell showed his quality and class in his 111, assisted by Tim Ambrose and Rikki Clarke.

We had them reeling at 30-4 early on and for Warwickshire to get up to 340 all out in their first innings was disappointing for us because it put them almost 100 runs ahead.

Warwickshire have got a good bowling attack but for us to be dismissed for 80 in our second innings was a calamity and I can offer no excuses for what happened.

We did not bat well and there were some soft dismissals.

At the start of the season, we knew there would be no easy games in Division One and there would be some very tough days.

We have to take the defeat on the chin, learn from it and get our minds ready for our next Championship challenge against Middlesex.

I felt there were some soft dismissals in our first and second innings and it’s the duty of each batsman to look at their own individual performance and work out how they can improve.

Charlie Morris, Jack Shantry and Joe Leach have been outstanding as a bowling unit and did well against Warwickshire with Shants taking 5-92 and Joe 4-80.

After the Warwickshire game, we talked openly about what had happened and it’s not always easy to do that in a team environment after such a defeat.

But we encourage an open policy at the club and it was a frank and positive discussion.

People have been working pretty hard and we are looking forward to getting back out in the middle.

We know Middlesex are a good side and it will be another difficult game.

They have some excellent batters, like Sam Robson and Nick Compton, and some fine bowlers, like James Harris, Tim Murtagh and Tobias Roland-Jones.

It is disappointing we are not playing the game at Lord’s but I have never played a four-day match at Uxbridge and I hope we can bounce back.