Jon Lewis: The guys stepped up to the mark in some style
We identified our last County Championship outing against Essex as a proverbial must-win game and I'm delighted to say the guys stepped up to the mark in magnificent fashion at Southend.
We knew it was a result wicket from the moment we first saw it and we knew we had to return home with a victory if we were to keep ourselves in the promotion hunt.
The fact we did exactly that, under no little pressure, says a lot about the strength of character and will to win in our squad, especially after we had lost three games on the trot to promotion rivals in the preceding month.
With just five matches left to play, we are now in an ideal position to challenge for a top-two finish and a return to the First Division, which was the goal we set ourselves at the start of this summer.
The situation we find ourselves in is encouraging to say the least. Next up are Leicestershire and Middlesex away and they are sides we have already beaten in the four-day competition this season.
Leicestershire are struggling a little and next week's game at Grace Road is one we can definitely win. We go to Lord's after that to face a Middlesex team which has improved since we defeated them in Bristol a couple of months ago. But they are likely to lose Owais Shah and Eoin Morgan to England for the forthcoming one-day international series and we can take advantage of a weakened batting line-up,
Of course, it helps that our rivals have to play one another and I am hoping for plenty of rain for today's final day between Kent and Northants!
But there really is no point in worrying about what others are doing. If we get our own house in order, results should take care of themselves. That's certainly what happened at Southend.
We played some quality cricket from the very start against a decent Essex side, who needed the win as much as we did. We had to fight back on a couple of occasions and I thought we did pretty well to get them out for 300 in their first innings and then ourselves recover after slipping to 170-6 in reply.
Steve Adshead and James Franklin batted superbly well and their huge seventh-wicket stand helped set-up the victory for us. There has been a lot more steel about our batting in the last couple of games and the guys are setting themselves to stay in for a very long time, which is a necessity at this stage of the season.
I've always maintained that we will bowl sides out to win matches if we first post a big total and it was good to see our batters putting such a high value on their wickets.
Although the seamers took a majority of the wickets in the Essex second innings, I have to congratulate off spinner Richard Dawson on a high-class performance. He attacked throughout, spun the ball prodigiously and put their batsmen under severe pressure.
Richard may have taken only one wicket, but I was hugely impressed with his performance, especially as he enabled the four quick bowlers to rotate at the other end and conserve energy.
Moving on from the County Championship, I was pleased to hear news of Steve Kirby's call-up to play for England Lions against the Australians at Canterbury this weekend.
He has bowled so well for us and worked so hard this season that he really deserves this chance to show what he can do against a touring side.
This may sound a touch fanciful, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he might force his way into the reckoning for next week's deciding fifth Test at The Oval.
Given that Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson are carrying injuries, places are likely to be up for grabs and Steve can put himself in the shop window with a strong performance against the Aussies.
I've spoken to him about it and advised him not to go hell for leather, but to maintain his composure, keep his head and focus on line and length to put their batsmen under pressure.
No-one will be more pleased than me to see Steve take wickets and impress the selectors.
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