Marcus Trescothick column: To hit 184 in a 40-over game and

end up on the losing side is not an experience I expect to

repeat in my career.

But it happened at Taunton last Saturday and

Gloucestershire's amazing 12-run victory under the

Duckworth-Lewis system has left us facing a Pro40 relegation

battle.

We entertain Worcestershire this evening knowing we must win

our last two games in the competition to stand a good chance of

retaining first division status for next season.

This may sound the stupidest comment I have made in this

column, but having viewed the Gloucestershire match on video, I

don't think we got enough runs.

Sure, at the halfway stage, I could only foresee us winning

after scoring 333-4, but I knew it wouldn't be easy having

batted for so long on an absolute belter of a wicket. On

reflection, the pitch was like a road and we probably needed 25

more.

While we contented ourselves in knocking the Gloucestershire

spinners around, they went really hard at our slow bowlers from

the outset.

I think the wicket actually got better as the game went on

because, while they were able to turn a few deliveries, we

couldn't make the ball deviate at all.

We certainly could have bowled better and executed more

yorkers. But we had just taken a wicket when the rain came and

it might still have been an interesting finish had we been able

to bowl our last 12 overs with 98 needed.

The Gloucestershire batsmen had been striking the ball

really well so maybe they were favourites, but you never know

what might happen as pressure builds towards the end of a one

day innings.

Now we simply have to beat Worcestershire tonight. Apart

from wanting to avoid relegation, we also don't want to be

involved in the play-off game between the third team in

Division Two and the third from bottom in Division One.

Our focus has to be fully on winning the County Championship

for the first time and we can do without that extra fixture as

a distraction just as the season is reaching its climax.

On a happier subject it has been great to see England take a

grip on the one-day series against South Africa. I didn't see

the game at Trent Bridge, but I did catch a lot of the first

match at Headingley and it looked a really first-class team

performance.

The start made under Kevin Pietersen's captaincy has been

hugely encouraging and I know from experience that if you can

get on a roll in one-day cricket everything suddenly becomes

easier.

I was very surprised by Steve Harmison's decision to come

out of retirement from limited overs internationals because I

know the problems he has had and how difficult he found it

playing for England in both forms of the game. But his

confidence is clearly sky-high at the moment and there is no

doubt that having him in the side makes a huge difference. With

Harmy, Freddie Flintoff and KP firing, we are up there with the

best in the world.

The only real area of concern now is the top of the batting

order. If we get that right and Ian Bell, Matt Prior and Owais

Shah can gel as a top three, the future will look very

bright.

Talking of England, my revelation that I used minty saliva

to try and keep the shine on the ball during our 2005 Ashes

victory over Australia has caused something of a furore.

I had no idea when I wrote about it in my autobiography that

it would provoke such a storm. But one national newspaper

sought to sensationalise it in one part of the serialisation

and the rest has followed.

All I said was that while at Warwickshire Dermot Reeve

noticed his bowlers somehow had the ability to keep the ball

swinging longer. He realised the player in charge of polishing

it was Asif Din, who happened to chew extra strong mints to

help him concentrate. Word gradually got around the county

circuit. I was chief ball polisher for England in 2005 and,

while I couldn't get on with Asif's choice of sweets, I found

Murray Mints much more to my taste and they seemed to be as

effective.

Umpires and everyone involved in the professional game have

known for years that this sort of thing goes on, not just with

sweets, but things like sun tan lotion. People have used it,

are using it and will use it.

If it were to be outlawed how would you police it? Take away

the ball at the end of every session and have it tested for

mint or sun oil on it?

As far as I am concerned, it is a storm in a teacup. I don't

even know if it works because I have known balls to swing

around corners without any sort of treatment and stay straight

as a die when you try to make them swing.

All I can say for sure is that when minty saliva is applied

it makes a ball shiny on one side so it looks as though it

should swing. But don't tell me it is anything new or

particularly shocking.