Lower-order runs can be so important, especially in low-scoring games – that’s why you’ve seen England teams picked in recent years with that in mind.

Players like Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann are so capable coming in at seven, eight and nine, and you know there’s a good chance of them hanging around and putting on partnerships.

When the last couple of wickets put on a lot of runs, it does have an effect on the team in the field – and unfortunately we’ve been on the receiving end in our last couple of games.

I don’t think any team had done that to us all season. Now it’s happened twice, against Derbyshire and then Somerset, and it’s ultimately cost us both times.

We got ourselves into a good position on that first afternoon against Somerset, but a lot of credit must go to Piyush Chawla in particular.

He didn’t give us any chances and compiled a really good innings. The disappointing thing was that we weren’t able to score anything like as many runs as they did, or as many as we should have done.

But we’ve got opportunities to put it right and make sure we finish strongly. Otherwise it can turn a very good summer into one that won’t look quite so good in the final table.

I feel I’ve made some small contributions with the bat – nowhere near as big as I’d have liked – but against Somerset I felt I managed to get in twice and that’s something I need to do more often.

Finally, I’d like to wish my old team Glamorgan all the best in their YB40 semi-final against Hampshire this weekend. I’ve got a huge number of friends in the Glamorgan team and I’d love them to reach a Lord’s final.

As we know, it’s a very hard competition to get through, but they’ve played some good cricket so far. Hopefully I’ll still get to be at Lord’s for the final, sitting in the crowd to cheer on my old mates!