THE 2005 Championship race is proving a really tightly contested affair and after 12 matches we find ourselves just a point behind Nottinghamshire.

Our performance down at The Rose Bowl was another good one and with a little luck we could have come home with the extra points for a win.

Bad weather denied us two sessions of the second day which, together with a couple of missed chances and confident appeals that didn’t go our way, made the task of wrapping up victory much tougher.

It was very much like England’s performance in the Old Trafford Test in being a case of 'so near, yet so far'.

Although we missed out on 10 extra points, I felt that overall our performance was of a pleasingly high quality.

Darren Stevens scored another classy hundred and toward the end of his 88 Rob Key again looked to be approaching something like his best form of the summer.

Justin Kemp batted powerfully and intelligently then bowled impressively on a helpful pitch to show what an important member of our bowling unit has become.

The bowling department all bowled their hearts out and again deserved 10 out of 10 for commitment to the cause and for their sustained effort.

In my time in cricket I have never met a more competitive bunch than this lot – even when it comes to our early morning soccer knock-about.

The boys play five-a-side most mornings just to get the blood circulating before doing their stretching exercises, yet it always ends up as a highly contested match with either Simon Willis or Martyn Sigley called upon to referee and take huge amounts of stick into the bargain.

I’m going to video a couple of the matches to take back home with me so that if I need a chuckle during the winter months I can pop on one of our five-a-side games to lift my spirits.

In a week like this its hard to believe that some people believe that cricket, and Test cricket in particular is boring to watch.

This Ashes series just gets better and better as both sides raise their level of performance from match to match.

The only thing you can predict is that there will be plenty more drama in store before the series ends.

Both sides are packed full with impact players capable of single-handedly changing the course of the game.

Though some commentators are saying the Aussies aren’t the side they used to be I don’t believe that to be the case, it’s just that this England side has improved markedly.

Personally, I can’t wait to see South Africa take on Australia this winter and if Ricky Ponting’s side dominate the Proteas as they have done in recent years then England’s supporters will finally understand what a good showing their side have put up this summer.