I THINK the recent game with Surrey was, overall, a mighty fine match for us - to score the record total ever made at New Road is quite an achievement.

It was not just the fact we equalled the record, but the manner in which we scored the runs that impressed me.

Vikram Solanki scored a double century and there were hundreds for Stephen Moore and Phil Jaques, while Steve Davies also scored 80-odd.

It was a very determined batting performance from us once we had finally won a toss. Then we did incredibly well to make them follow-on.

To have scored 700 then spent two and a half days in the field deserved better than a draw.

By the time we got to the final session, the guys were out on their feet - they had given everything they could give.

It was frustrating and disappointing not to have taken 20 wickets, but it was a very flat wicket for New Road and it was always going to be very difficult to bowl them out.

The turning point was when Mark Butcher suddenly realised that if he could get down to the end Gareth Batty was bowling at, being left handed, he could nullify the turn out of the rough outside off stump.

Matt Nicholson has proved before what a good player he can be and he played very well to support his partner.

We are showing signs of improvement and our batting flourished when we won the toss. If you bat tired, as we have had to do a lot this season, no matter how hard you concentrate, you will not be as good as if you are batting fresh.

We will go into our next games with a bit more confidence now having played so well against Surrey.

The win over Northants in the Friends Provident Trophy was a really good, solid performance.

Batting-wise we showed a lot of confidence and arrogance - by that I mean even though we lost a few early wickets we kept playing positively.

Graeme Hick's 120 was the mainstay of our innings and he is really playing the number five role very well. When he entered the fray, the spinners were on for Northants and that was ideal for him because he is one of our best players of spin bowling.

Also, Ray Price was our most economical bowler, only going for 30 in his 10 overs.

We rested Kabir Ali, so it was good to get a win without him, but Northants were not at full strength.

That shows the problem I've got with this competition though - there should always be something at stake and that is not always the case with this format and some teams field weakened sides when they are out of the reckoning.

Matt Mason is going for a second opinion on his shoulder injury because he is not recovering at the speed we would like.

He has had shoulder surgery and some recover quicker than others, but I think we'll get a positive result from a second opinion.

We play Scotland on Wednseday and it would be nice to see Dewald Nel do well - ideally he will take five wickets but Worcestershire will win.

Scotland are due a win and we will need to be on our A' game.

After that, we play Warwickshire and we had a great win against them in the Friends Provident Trophy recently, so it would be nice to repeat that.