My first game as Middlesex captain

August 5-8

Kent v Middlesex (Canterbury)

Shaun Udal pulled out injured at the last minute, so I got to captain my first championship game – and to lead us to our first championship win of the season. Kent are a long way clear at the top of the table and one of the strongest sides in the division so it was great. It’s been a tough year for us but after this game, we had a good vibe, getting back to what we had last year after we won the Twenty20.

I’m not officially the vice-captain, but I captained a one-day game at the start of the season, so I knew I would be in the frame if Shaun missed a match. I do actually have a lot of experience leading sides: I led all the Irish age-group sides as I was growing up and have captained Middlesex seconds a lot, too.

It was a low-scoring game. There were 21 wickets on the first day: we were all out for 155 and then we bowled them out for 141. The pitch had some extra bounce in it but as a player I think you have to get used to all that: you don’t want a culture of excuses; it creates a bad atmosphere.

We bowled better than them, I think. Murali Kartik took 4/53 in the second innings. The last pair – Simon Cook and Amjad Khan – put on 86 but they were about all that held us up. 

But we’re still bottom of Division 2, with on win in 12. No doubt about it, we have struggled this year. I think, though, maybe Kent aside, the teams in the division are pretty close and often quite small things can be important: we had to chase 186 to beat Surrey off 25 overs in May – and fell two runs short; against Essex at Chelmsford, it rained on the last day when we were well-placed. If one of those had gone slightly differently, it might have given us the momentum we needed.

The weather, too: if you’re playing on decent pitches and games go to four days, any time lost to rain seriously affects the chance of a result: half our games have been draws and a good number were draws that we had much the better of.