It's crucial we start well in the Twenty20 Cup when the competition gets under way next week.

We had high expectations going into the tournament last year, having been runners-up in 2007, but finished bottom of our division and that was a big disappointment.

We lost to Worcestershire in our first game last year and then tied with Warwickshire in a match which we should have won. We then lost to Northants and it was always going to be an uphill battle to qualify.

It would be nice to get on a roll this time, like we did in the Friends Provident Trophy, and I'm confident we have the squad to do well.

We've been playing some good one-day cricket this season, although it was disappointing we didn't get the results we would have liked in our last three Friends Provident games.

It would have been nice to keep the winning momentum going, but we must learn from that and look to nail the next stage of our one-day season.

We're going to be up against some good teams in our division. Somerset are through to the quarter-finals in the Friends Provident and Worcestershire, although they didn't qualify after a shock defeat to Ireland on Wednesday, are a very good one-day side in my opinion.

As well as those two, we'll be up against Warwickshire, who just missed out on the Friends Provident quarter-finals, and two other good teams in Northants and Glamorgan.

But I am sure we'll be fully focussed and well prepared for the Twenty20. We can't practise at the County Ground at the moment, because of the preparations for the one-day international on Sunday, so we're going to the Bristol West Indians' ground today to hone our Twenty20 skills.

Unfortunately, we will be without Will Porterfield and James Franklin for the tournament as they will be teaming up with Ireland and New Zealand respectively for the Twenty20 World Cup.

Will has played some very good one-day innings for us this season and James has been performing particularly well. He hits the ball hard and straight and is obviously very useful as well with the ball.

But their absence means opportunities for others to come in and I am confident we have the squad to cope.

The good news is that Kirbs (Steve Kirby) and Sax (Ian Saxelby) should be fit to boost our pace bowling unit and Richard Dawson is also available for the first time this season to give us another spin bowling option.

Spin bowlers have had quite a bit of success in Twenty20 and, with the big boundaries at Bristol, I've always felt it is a good place to play two of them. Who that will be is obviously up to the management, but let's not forget that we've got Chris Taylor as well as Vikram Banerjee and Dawson. Apart from being a key batsman for us, Chris is also a capable one-day spin bowler.

Batting-wise, I think we are well equipped for the Twenty20, and it will be good to have Kadeer Ali back in contention after he didn't play in last season's tournament through injury.

He showed in 2007 what an effective player he could be in Twenty20 and I thought we missed him a lot last year.

He struggled for form a bit in the Friends Provident and was left out of the last two games against Sussex and Durham, so it remains to be seen whether he'll get selected. But I am sure he'll be fighting hard to get in the team.

I must also give a mention to wicketkeeper Steve Adshead, who has been playing really well. He's not in our championship team, so he's focused totally on one-day cricket and he's been making the most of his opportunities.

Our batting has been scoring consistently without any of the top order going on to get really big scores. So Steve has often come in at crucial times and managed to steer us towards some very good totals.

He's been hitting the ball cleanly and he's a guy who's got good options towards the end of an innings. He knows where to hit the ball and enjoys the challenge.

Every team needs a finisher and he's been doing that role very well for us. Also, if your wicketkeeper is an all-rounder, then it makes selection easier because it opens up other options.

Personally, I think Twenty20 is a brilliant concept and great fun to play in.

It's always exciting to play in front of big crowds and I enjoy the challenge of trying to stop batsmen hitting me out of the ground.

Bowling in Twenty20 is more defensive than in championship cricket because you are more concerned with trying to stop batsmen scoring quickly than getting them out – although hopefully you end up doing both.

But I enjoy the battle of trying to outwit the batsmen and it's all about keeping your composure under pressure.

Interview: Mark Easterbrook