HAVING to release players is one of the hardest jobs someone in my position has to do and after the elation of winning the NatWest Pro40 title it did take the gloss off.

The day after we won the title at Gloucestershire, I had to have meetings with players about their contracts.

And to tell players that they are not getting a new contract is very tough, but it is my job to make these difficult decisions.

I have decided not to renew the contracts of Roger Sillence, Dewald Nel and Stuart Wedge.

It is never easy breaking the news to the players that you work day in, day out with and I wish them all the best in the future.

We go to Hove tomorrow in our final game of the season and this game against Sussex will give a couple of youngsters a chance.

We are taking Richard Jones and Josh Knappett is coming as a batsman.

It has been a topsy-turvy season for us.

Relegated in the four-day game and champions of the one-day league.

If in April you would have told me that we would have been relegated then of course I would have been disappointed, but I'm sure that we will bounce back.

We have done it before and we'll do it again.

We started the season looking to win four trophies and we have come away with the Pro40 title and that is something we can all be proud of.

We look at all the competitions with equal importance, we got to the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 Cup and we finished fourth in our group of 10 in the Friends Provident Trophy as well as winning the Pro40.

The team has gelled nicely without Phil Jaques, Doug Bollinger, Ben Smith, Matt Mason and Vikram Solanki but it has really tested us.

I was a little disappointed that we couldn't keep our unbeaten record intact at Warwickshire on Sunday, but I can't get too upset.

I was after one last big performance, but we must have run out of steam.

The game at Bristol was a huge effort by all the players, but I do feel that tactically Gloucestershire did get it wrong.

They put what they felt were enough runs on the board, but what was to our advantage was that it was a very good wicket.

Gloucestershire didn't play Ian Fisher and I think they were left to rue that decision.

They must have felt that with the dew coming down it would have offered the seamers a bit more, but their best bowler was Chris Taylor - an occasional spinner.