It’s not really what you want, to have more than a week off, two games in quick succession and then another four or five days off.

When you get a break like this it just kills your form dead. Personally I’d had a couple of lean games before the break but I feel for Jarre and Jonesy who were putting some good form together.

When you’re hitting the ball well you want to keep it going as long as you can.

All this time off and then we have a run of games packed on top of each other. We had the chance to have our say on the scheduling earlier in the season and I think something like 89 per cent of players said that something needed to be done, so hopefully they’ll do something about it.

Having said that, I was a bit tired and the week off has given me the chance to rest my body a bit and do some work in the gym.

I’ve had a friend over from South Africa and I’ve been acting as a tour guide. We’ve been doing all the touristy things.

We’ve been to London and driven all round the coast, visited some nice country pubs and generally had a nice break.

When I have time-off I like to take a break from the game completely so I haven’t watched any of the England games.

It’s been pretty full-on cricket for me this season so it was nice to do something different.

I did, though, watch an hour of the England under-19 game at Canterbury last Friday. I popped up to do a quick session with Farby and stuck around after. There are some good players in there, I can tell you.

I’m now looking forward to getting back into action and feel refreshed and raring to go.

This season has been a bit hit and miss – more miss than hit if I’m honest. But if we can get a decent result against Lancashire, who are not at their strongest, then it could set us up for a good finish.

We are still in with a slim chance in the Clydesdale Bank 40.

It would be great to finish the season on a high for the players and the club.

With the season nearing its close, I have agreed to go and play for Otago in the New Zealand Twenty20 season this winter.

It will be my first time on the South Island and I’m already looking forward to staying in Queenstown.