IT has never been more important for Somerset to make a good start in the Friends Life t20 competition, which gets underway next week. We have under-performed in the Clydesdale Bank 40 so far, losing all four Group B games, and that has to be a concern going into the shorter format.
Even without a number of senior players, I expected us to do better. We have not put enough runs on the board, nor played to anywhere near the standards we have set in recent seasons.
By the time we open our Twenty20 campaign with a home game against Warwickshire next Wednesday, overseas signings Richard Levi and Albie Morkel will have arrived, which will offer a significant boost.
But they will need to settle in quickly. We lost our first two games in the competition last season and, with the number of group games now reduced from 16 to ten, it is vital to hit the ground running.
After the Warwickshire match, we face Gloucestershire at Bristol 24 hours later. A home victory and a derby win would be the perfect start, but if those results went against us, it would immediately be an uphill battle to qualify for the quarter-finals.
I would anticipate Levi opening the batting with Craig Kieswetter against Warwickshire. Both are capable of hitting over the in-field during the first six overs of power-play, which is crucial, and has been a key component of our Twenty20 success in recent seasons.
Levi is just breaking into international cricket after an exceptional domestic record and really belts the ball, so I am sure he will provide our supporters with some excitement.
Although we haven't won the Twenty20 competition since 2005, we have been the dominant team over here in recent years in terms of the number of games we have won.
That has been based on putting big runs on the board and, with players like James Hildreth, Jos Buttler, Peter Trego and Morkel to follow the opening pair, the potential will be there to do so again.
How much we will see of Kieswetter and Buttler will depend on whether they are selected for England's one-day squad this summer. It may not be very much, because I expect both to be called up, so we may well need younger lads like Craig Meschede, Max Waller and Lewis Gregory to come to the fore, as they did in last year's Champions League.
Morkel has opened the bowling and operated at the death for his IPL club, Chenai Super Kings. He can swing the ball at good pace and, having him in tandem with Alfonso Thomas, should make us strong at both ends of the innings.
George Dockrell could also be a key figure for us. Spinners have become increasingly effective in Twenty20 cricket over the years and his experience with Ireland has given him a maturity beyond his years.
The challenge with Twenty20 cricket is to get on a winning run. Every county is capable of beating each other on a certain night and building momentum is the key to success.
You need to develop an effective team plan. When it works, it builds confidence to such an extent that you go out expecting to dominate.
The first two games will set the tone. As we have found in the CB40, it is very difficult to change things around once they go wrong and our one-day season now rests with a successful 20-over campaign. Unfortunately, Lewis Gregory will miss the start of it, having dislocated a little finger fielding off his own bowling in the CB40 game with Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge this week. But I don't expect him to be out for long.
As far as my own fitness is concerned, I am about a week away from shedding the protective boot on my injured ankle. It will then be re-examined and I shall start the rehabilitation programme, which, hopefully, will see me return to action at some point this summer.
On the international front, Kevin Pietersen's decision to retire from international limited overs cricket took me by surprise and is extremely disappointing for England.
The timing of the announcement was pretty extraordinary, with the World Twenty20 championship in Sri Lanka just four months away and a busy summer of 50-over internationals ahead.
It is particularly frustrating for the team because KP had just secured his place at the top of the batting order with Alastair Cook after a lot of work on the structure of the side and now we are back to square one.
There is no obvious candidate to replace him. My Somerset team-mate Kieswetter has done the job in the past and the selectors might look at someone like Hampshire's Michael Carberry, who is having a very good one-day season.
But Carberry is not a bludgeoner like Pietersen can be, and we wlll be looking at an untried combination. I would expect Cook to be selected for the Twenty20 World Cup, as well as the one-day internationals and to eventually be appointed captain in the shortest format.
I'm not putting blame on KP because he knows his own body and has a perfect right to make such a decision when he feels it is justified. But I am very disappointed as an England fan because of the quality of player we are losing.
Interview: Richard Latham
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