THE way we bowled in the morning session on the first day of the championship game with Warwickshire was excellent and, as a coach, I couldn't have asked for more.
In the second and third sessions of the day, the bowling was disappointing, but Tim Ambrose batted very well.
Obviously Jim Troughton got a hundred too, but the way Ambrose batted was very impressive. He is a quality batsman and looks to be a real talent for the future.
Missing Matt Mason from the start of the season and having Doug Bollinger injured for the last two games has been a big blow for us, as our squad is quite small and it is very difficult to cope without two of our key strike bowlers.
If you use Lancashire as an example, they have Andrew Flintoff, Saj Mahmood, Jimmy Anderson, Glenn Chapple, Dominic Cork, Oliver Newby, Tom Smith, Kyle Hogg and a youngster called Steven Cheetham to call upon in the seam bowling department, whereas we don't have that depth in our squad so a couple of injuries can really hurt us.
We are not the Manchester United of British cricket. We have a side that punches above its weight, but we are restricted by the size of our squad.
As we have had a few problems with injuries this season, it is up to the new players who come in to stake their claim for a regular place.
Richard Jones came in against Warwickshire and he did not do too badly. It was a very good work-out for him.
He is behind in his development because of the troublesome injury he had last year.
It is a big blow for a young lad to have a double stress fracture to his back, so he has still got a lot of work to do but it is all part of the learning curve for him. He is very level-headed and he now knows what it is like to play at the top level.
I was very pleased with the way Phil Jaques batted for his hundred against Nottinghamshire - I saw a different side to his game in that innings.
The pitch was turning a lot, so he couldn't play the spinners down the ground like he normally would. Instead, he played a selection of reverse sweeps, dink sweeps and orthodox sweeps. He used his experience from playing on the turning wickets he is used to in Sydney and adapted his game excellently to suit the conditions.
It has been pleasing to see Graeme Hick batting so well in his last three knocks. He looked very good in his two innings against Warwickshire and his run-a-ball innings against Notts was in a difficult situation. As a coach, it was particularly pleasing to see his feet moving so well.
This week we go to Yorkshire and we have had some success against them in recent years so there is no reason why we cannot repeat that now.
It is a long trip up there and we will be staying for the Lancashire game the following week.
It will be good for the players to be in different surroundings for a while and I'm sure it will bring out the best in them.
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