THE STEVE RHODES COLUMN

OBVIOUSLY losing to Scotland in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy was a very disappointing result in the sense that we went there very much expecting to beat them.

We did not bat that badly but it was in the field and with the ball where we fell short.

Scotland played one of their best games but it was still very disappointing to lose.

Having the game reduced to 25 overs did not help us but it was the same for both sides. However, they did field extremely well and they out-stripped us in the field.

We had them at 77-5 at one stage, but the next nine overs went for about 90 runs and, seeing as we had half of the batsmen out, we did not expect them to score at that rate.

After their innings, we thought they had scored about 35 to 40 runs too many, which made life difficult for our batsmen.

But we have to take it on the chin that they beat us and say they deserved it on the day.

Vikram Solanki and Graeme Hick were pressing when they batted, but it was a tough task when we needed 11 or 12 an over.

I have said before that I don't like the way the C&G is set up this year.

I think it is crazy not to have semi-finals, especially now Lancashire have won three out of three.

They will take some catching and it is more a case of them slipping up than the other teams catching them up.

They have such strength in depth -- they won on Sunday without even needing to use Andrew Flintoff's batting.

It is a tough call for us to qualify for the final now, but we will try our hardest in every game and we will be looking for victories in each one.

We have got Leicestershire next up in the C&G and they have lost two of their games like us, so we are in the same boat -- both teams will be desperate to get back to winning ways.

We have got a home game with Derbyshire in the County Championship before we take on Leicestershire and that is what we are concentrating on at the moment.

We have still got a few players suffering from niggling injuries, but we will have a look at those and see how they are doing before naming the squad.

Derbyshire are an improved side from last year and they have some quality players -- players like Chris Taylor who they signed from Yorkshire.

He has done really well so far -- I think he has played eight innings and passed 50 five times. They are definitely a lot stronger this year than last year.

The Derbyshire game will also mark the first return to New Road of James Pipe since he moved on over the summer. He was a popular character round here and it will be good to see him again.

Finally, I am looking forward to the arrival of Phil Jaques. He is bound to add something to the squad -- anyone with a career average of 55 can't be a bad player.