ALTHOUGH the week only consisted of two limited overs fixtures it still had its hectic moments.

On paper a week with fixtures against Wiltshire and Scotland appeared to be one that might not hold too much drama for us, but I was in for a few surprises.

The first being the Salisbury pitch, a fresh green one on a very heavy outfield, which all meant the toss became very important.

Unfortunately 'Fults' got the call wrong and we found our batsmen struggling to adjust from a belter at Edgbaston to a seamer-friendly Salisbury pitch.

The danger in these type of fixtures is that the professional unit can, due to an indifferent atmosphere and club surroundings, allow their intensity to drop and perhaps we slipped into this trap.

We did, however, react well to the situation and Michael Carberry stabilised our batting performance and then the lads put in a really good bowling and fielding display.

Although the match was tight our bowlers took control for us and I always felt confident we could defend our total of 15O.

It was nice to see Martin Saggers firing again on all four cylinders, he really looked good and although he didn’t get wickets he only went for 23 runs and the batsmen struggled to lay bat on ball throughout his 10 overs.

Simon Cook bowled superbly picking up four economical wickets and Darren Stevens showed how valuable he can be, only going for 22 from his 10 overs, to set up a narrow win, but one that builds character and promotes honest self assessment.

After that I was able to watch our 2nd team combine with Sussex to eventually lose to a combined Hants and Essex team.

The defeat was disappointing, but I did enjoy Joe Denley’s ton in the first innings and I feel sure he’s a young man with an exciting cricketing future.

Next, it was on to Scotland and I’m pleased to say we put in a totally professional performance on another pitch that made one-day batting tricky.

Stevens had a great game with bat and ball and is a special talent who makes valuable contributions to the team on and off the filed.

Darren has really taken on the challenge of becoming our fifth bowler in limited overs matches and his five for 32 really was a top quality performance.

It is amazing to note that he only bowled six overs for Leicestershire last season.

Before I joined Kent I was told about the passionate support for the team and I have been most impressed by the amount of support we get at our away matches.

Everywhere we go there are supporters in our Spitfires t-shirts and sweat tops, all of them doing their best to make away games feel like home games.

Scotland was no exception and once again the support of our travelling fans was really appreciated by the players and me.

Finally, I’m looking forward to getting down to Tonbridge School on Sunday to see the Kent youth squads having their training day at this great venue.

I’m sure there will be some fine young talent on display and I’m very much looking forward to working with them and spotting some Kent stars of tomorrow.