IT is pretty much now or never for us at Worcestershire as we head into today’s match at New Road.

If we don’t start to get wins now then it will start to become impossible to avoid relegation back to LV County Championship Division Two.

We have to be brave against Somerset as the wicket is likely to be a seamer-friendly result pitch.

So we have to go hell for leather to get the win and hopefully we can turn our season around before it is too late.

But we are going to have to do it without Kabir Ali and losing a player like him is a massive blow for any side.

While it is impossible to replace Kabby, Richard Jones gets a chance to show what he can do.

He has worked incredibly hard during the winter and the early part of the season.

He is a great athlete, has been bowling with good pace and has gone about his work whole-heartedly.

To hear the news that Simon Jones will not get a new contract with us next season was very disappointing for me.

He is a once-in-a-generation type of bowler and, if it had been down to me, Simon would be here next season, but sadly it’s not.

His surgeon is really confident that he will be fit for next season. Simon himself is very, very confident — in fact he’s more confident than he has ever been.

He is a world-class international bowler and it is such a shame that he won’t be with us next year.

We got off to a good start in Pro40 Division One with a close win over Yorkshire and, for me, the key to that success was Daryl Mitchell’s innings.

He is our unsung hero and plays some incredibly important innings that he doesn’t always gets the plaudits for.

Of course, Gareth Andrew bowled beautifully and a five-for in one-day cricket is extremely impressive but Mitch’s knock got us a decent score to defend. Moeen Ali also bowled well and took wickets at key periods of the game.

Mo has been working really hard on his bowling and you could see that he was getting the ball to turn.

Next Monday, we say goodbye to Ashley Noffke — he has been brilliant in the dressing room.

He has bowled a lot of overs without the reward he deserved and scored some more-than-useful runs.

But it was not just out on the pitch where he impressed me. He worked so much with our young bowlers and our batters.

When he gets home, he will start a new life at Western Australia with former Worcestershire director of cricket Tom Moody.

I’m sure Noffers will be excited and apprehensive but Tom was the main reason I came to Worcestershire.

He is a fantastic man manager and I’m sure that it will be a great move for both Noffers and Tom.