IT was disappointing to pick up just six points against Somerset after losing almost the whole of the last two days and part of the second in our rain-hit match in LV= County Championship Division One.

It was a frustrating time and the wet weather probably cost us a few batting points in a drawn match.

There was a green tinge to the pitch — at Taunton that doesn’t necessarily mean a lot but the overcast condi - tions on the first morning should have allowed for more swing than our bowlers created.

We decided to bowl first and, with it being such a bad forecast, felt to win the game whoever won the toss had to dismiss the other side cheaply in the first innings.

They would then need a de cent score before knocking them over again in what was likely to be only a two-day game.

The ball didn’t swing as much as we thought it would as James Hildreth hit an unbeaten 220 and Somerset made 565-5 declared.

Hildreth is a very good player and has scored a lot of runs at Championship level.

He gets a few big scores a year and played very well.

Ross Whiteley and Ben Cox showed the quality of the pitch with 78 not out and 52 not respectively in our 172-4.

Having been in the field for a day-and-a-half, we lost early wickets before those two came together in a tricky situation.

But they both played well on the third day and struck the ball positively.

We were 20-odd runs away from another batting point when the heavy rain arrived.

I am sure we would have built on their platform and got another few bonus points.

The weather curtailed our chances and six points was not what we were looking for.

Sussex picked up more than us and have leapfrogged us by a couple of points.

The match against Sussex, starting tomorrow at New Road, is huge.

It was great to see Joe Leach sign an extension to his deal, here because he’s been fantastic this year and stepped into the shoes of Gareth Andrew when he got injured.

Joe’s a fantastic cricketer with a tremendous work ethic and is probably the most improved player I have seen.

He’s gone from a batsman who can bowl a bit to a genuine front-line new-ball bowler and has been a revelation as his statistics suggest.

I am sure he will be a massive part of Worcestershire cricket.

From the club’s point of view, it’s positive to have so many young guys commit their futures. A lot of other guys in the squad have performed well and I am sure there will be more contract extensions to come.