THERE can be no hiding from the fact that this has been my worst season in four-day cricket.

With both the bat and ball, I have been extremely disappointed with how things have gone for myself.

Despite my call-up to the England 30-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, I am focused on improving my game in the longer form.

I have been pleased with how things have gone for me in the one-day game and Twenty20 — I’m told that my stats are second to none.

So it is pleasing to know that, despite how I have got on in the longer form, my one-day game has not been forgotten.

Steve Davies has also been named in the England squad which was no shock.

It seems as if I’m saying the same thing every week but on Friday we have another huge battle in LV County Championship Division One — this time against Warwickshire.

The spectators always enjoy the derby rivalry and for the players, given the position we find ourselves in, there is going to be a certain amount of edge to it.

We want to do well against whoever we play, get points on the board and desperately try to get ourselves away from the bottom of the table.

Last week’s match against Somerset saw Marcus Trescothick and Justin Langer give batting masterclasses.

Those two players have more than 200 Test appearances between them and whoever bowled to them was on a learning curve.

It was no surprise that we put them in after winning the toss — the wicket was green and looked seamer friendly.

Instead, it was a fantastic batting pitch. A couple of the guys will not, by their own admission, have been happy with how they went with the ball.

But you have to give credit to Somerset’s batting.

However, we weren’t up to the mark when it came to our batting and I suppose that just shows you where our confidence is.

We have taken a bit of a battering in the confidence department this season as a group.

In that first innings against Somerset, we did not apply ourselves as well as in the second innings.

With Ashley Noffke back in Australia now, Simon Jones out for the season and Kabir Ali struggling with his back, we have an inexperienced bowling attack.

Kabby has been our main wicket-taker over the years and you can’t replace that.

We are now in a situation where bowlers are having to carry out unfamiliar roles.

Stock bowlers will get you wickets but Kabby is someone who goes chasing and gets them — that is always going to be missed.