Martin van Jaarsveld said he had mixed feelings about a 10-day break just two games into the new season.

The 36-year-old batsman (pictured), refreshed after a winter break with his wife Jill and two young daughters in South Africa, went into this week’s first LV=County Championship Division 2 home game against Gloucestershire looking for his first big score of the summer

He said: "If you are doing well you want to play as much as you like but if you are struggling with your game then the break like we have just had gives you a little bit of a buffer to do a bit of work on your game and hit balls against the bowling machine.

"May is a pretty packed month – we play 24 out of 30 days cricket. I think a lot of the guys are targeting taking a bit of form into those games."

He added: "I was in good touch pre-season but the decks haven’t exactly been flat either.

"The one against Essex at Chelmsford proved quite sporty and I think Northants applied themselves a little better than we did and were disciplined. I thought I got a bit of a rough decision in the first innings and it was maybe indecision on my part."

Heading into the one-day season this weekend, van Jaarsveld added: "Hopefully that will give us some momentum to carry into the season and we have got some good players who can take games away from the opposition."

Much speculation surrounded van Jaarveld’s future with the county during the winter and he said: "I never said I wanted to leave but there was a stage when I had to look at family options."