TOMORROW we start our final season in the NatWest Pro40 — a competition that has been good to us over the years.
But it is not a tournament that will be greatly missed. That is not to say I didn’t enjoy playing in it, it’s just only because there is no 40-over cricket on the international calendar.
With all the rescheduling that has taken place it was the obvious candidate for being scrapped.
We play 50-over and Twenty20 cricket on the international circuit and that is what we should follow on the domestic front.
However, with it being the final season of the competition, it would be great if we could go out as winners.
This is our last chance of glory this year and we will be going at it, like we have done in every competition, whole-heartedly.
The Pro40 is a tournament where one player can affect the outcome of the result and Steve Davies will be looking to push on from where he left off.
Davo was named the league’s most valuable player last season and he is a person that has gone from strength to strength since then.
His batting has got better from last year and he is keeping beautifully, there aren’t many players who can keep getting better year on year but Davo has.
People may say that James Foster at Essex has been harshly treated when it comes to international honours, but if that is the case then Davo has been doubly so. He is ticking all the right boxes as far as I’m concerned to move up to the next level.
The Yorkshire game tomorrow is going to be a tough one as they are a dangerous side with international class players.
We have to focus on our game and look to get off to a winning start.
The game at Lancashire last week was a strange one and a big partnership sealed our fate.
The first innings was a low-scoring affair and the pitch, which wasn’t a bad one by any means, was helpful to the bowlers.
Matt Mason bowled as well as I have ever seen him do so during that first innings and he got his reward with seven wickets.
In our second innings we were light on runs once again. Stephen Moore built on the century he got with the England Lions with another one in Manchester and hopefully he can continue to hit the big scores.
But it was the partnership between Paul Horton and Mark Chilton that took the game away from us.
Just like at Durham the previous week, there were positives we can take out of the match — except the result, and that is a bitter pill to swallow.
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