WE have got a pretty remarkable schedule this week with our Friends Life t20 matches before returning to LV= County Championship action on Saturday.

I don’t really want to whinge and moan, because all the counties are in the same boat, but we will have no preparation for the match against Hampshire at the weekend as we are playing Warwickshire on the Friday night in the Twenty20.

Hopefully, we can build some momentum from our win against Nottinghamshire a couple of weeks ago.

Talking of wins, I thought the one we had against Northamptonshire last Friday night was an excellent performance — our fielding was exceptional, probably the best it has been all season. The bowling was pretty good too, no-one had an off night and that always helps in a 20-over match.

Then we timed the chase to perfection. Moeen Ali and Alexei Kervezee had a great partnership — to bat for 11 overs in a Twenty20 is a fantastic effort — before a quick cameo from the man in form, Gareth Andrew.

We had an eye on the Duckworth/Lewis score because of the way the weather was. Any team can use the D/L when batting — it is a good guide to have so you can try and make sure that you keep you noses in front.

To be honest, though, it was a little surprising that we stayed out on the field on Friday as it was pretty dark and raining.

If we were going to go off, then we should have gone off in the fourth over but there wouldn’t have been a result, so thankfully we stayed out there and got the win.

The previous night we had been at Yorkshire and what a nail-biter that was — the game went right down the wire. Gaz had an unbelievable match. He hit a 26-ball 60 and had bowling figures of 3-30 — he really didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.

He has been a little more consistent this season in all forms of the game, chipping in with a lot wickets and some very useful runs.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to back him up with the bat, but you do have to give credit to the way Ryan Sidebottom bowled, especially the last over, and Adil Rashid.

We said goodbye to Damien Wright yesterday and he has been a top bloke to have in the dressing room and someone I would like to see back at New Road.

He is such a positive guy, very experienced and played really well for us — it is just a shame that he couldn’t play in a couple of the Twenty20s because of his calf injury.

Saeed Ajmal is set to join us this week and he is someone I’m looking forward to see bowl — I have been following his progress since we signed him.

I also want to wish the Worcestershire County Cricket Supporters Association a happy birthday, it’s their 60th today and they have done some great things for the club over the years.