THERE'S plenty of excitement amongst the coaches and playing staff now that the many hours of hard pre-season work are complete and the real action has started.

The rain reduced our pre-season match time and outdoor preparation considerably and as a result we felt slightly underdone going into our first three games. But I feel the lads have shown great mental strength and commitment so far.

Our first match against Derbyshire saw Spitfires put in a spirited and disciplined effort in the field and we did well to limit Phantoms to 197 - a score we felt confident of knocking off - before the rain spoilt out chances.

Then, with not too much cricket under our belts, we were suddenly up against the county champions Warwickshire who arrived in Canterbury full of confidence and form having come off the back of an overwhelming victory over Glamorgan.

Overall, I was delighted by the focus, fight and discipline displayed by our lads over the four-days.

Our effort against Warwickshire was a pretty good team performance, spearheaded by Martin van Jaarsveld’s centuries in each innings, Amjad Khan’s six wickets in the first innings and Min Patel’s four wickets in the second innings. Their performances really pleased me as it showed their hard work in the winter months had paid off.

There was a lot of hurt and disappointment after the match as we came so close to achieving a fantastic win but there were, however, many positives.

For me the most impressive aspects were the fight, the discipline (only one no ball in the game) and the team spirit shown.

We tried as much as we could to break that partnership between Frost and Loudon but, after five wickets in the first session it was almost as if we had been lulled into thinking we were going to win regardless.

We maybe went through the motions a little in the mid-session, the energy levels dropped and although we re-grouped after tea it was just a little too late.

After the disappointment of Saturday I was concerned about the team being a bit flat for Sunday’s totesport League game against Leicestershire, but they certainly proved me wrong with a performance full of intensity and confidence.

The energy levels were high again in the field and, when we batted we showed a high degree of controlled aggression.

It was a much happier dressing room that evening.