The first two days of our Championship game have been badly rain affected. That means one thing, the changing room becomes a play room for the likes of Jason Roy and Rory Burns.
If you're lucky enough, you might escape their attention. Prove to be an unlucky one and you are in for a tough day! Two weeks ago I ended up at the bottom of a pile on.
At the Oval it's actually ok because my locker is round the corner and I can chill out on my bench. Here at Northampton I've been flanked either side by Jason and Tom Curran... Give either of those two some red bull or a coffee and it's an interesting combination to say the least.
If it's someone else that they're messing with it can actually be quite funny...Don't let them see you laugh though!
It's been a frustrating couple days up here, we've had a steady start to the season and after our brilliant win against Leicester last week we were looking to push on up here. Last week was a weird one to say the least. We had one bloke get 350 not out and then told he wasn't wanted by England.
We were well ahead on the game and then it seemingly was petering out into a draw only to chase down 215 in 22 overs after tea on the last day. At tea I went into the room out the back where they serve food and Nobby was in there in his full tracksuit after playing very well for his 70 odd.
He was laughing at me still having to keep wicket with 150 overs already on the board. I jokingly told him to declare and have a pop at us to try and win the game!
When we did finally take the last wicket, I don't think Leicester thought there was any other result possible other than a draw. They were soon mid-panic after about 3 overs of Jason Roy and Steve Davies. The way they struck the ball was outstanding and to chase down that sort of total after tea on the last day was very pleasing.
What actually went unnoticed was the fact that Zafar Ansari had bowled 55 overs and taken 6 fer. That actually set the win up for us. The pitch was so dead and he bowled out of his skin. Credit actually to Leicester as well.
Last year they would and did crumble under pressure at the oval but under new leadership with both coach and captain they seem to be a lot tougher. Niall played the way he can for his 70 as did Ned Eckersley for his hundred. I don't think it will be long before they register their first win.
We moved on to t20 on Friday night and were perhaps caught on the hop by a very dangerous Glamorgan side. We didn't play our best cricket but they turned up and came at us hard.
We are missing two key bowlers in Azhar and Jade Dernbach through IPL commitments and injury respectively and our young lads suffered with through a little bit of inexperience.
The way they bounced back on Saturday to beat Essex, albeit without some dangerous players was very impressive.
Chelmsford is an incredibly difficult place to go, so to come away with two points was excellent! We proved last year that after losing the first game, we can come back strong so hopefully this year will be the same... Except to go one further and actually win it!