WHEN you go and play second team cricket, you want to do well and impress but at the same time, it can also take a bit of pressure off you.

There isn’t the same attention and you’re not in the spotlight as much as when you’re playing first-team cricket.

I know that I get everything right, I’ll do well in the second team. I definitely did that (with a knock of 157) against Somerset last week.

I played in two T20 games against Surrey on Tuesday. It was on a club ground, so the wicket wasn’t the best, and I didn’t really score many runs but I took a few wickets, which was good.

We won one game and lost the other one, which we shouldn’t have done.

It is frustrating not being in the first team at the moment. I believe that I should be but it in sport, you’re going to have seasons where you aren’t playing that much.

It happens – not just in cricket – and there are times when you fall out of favour with coaches for whatever reason.

But that’s just the way it is. I’ve still got two-and-a-half years to go on my contract and there’s a hell of a lot of cricket left to play.

I’ve been told that I’ve got a good chance of being back in the team for the four-day game against Somerset, which starts on Sunday.

We had a great win against Sussex last week and Somerset at are near the bottom of the table, so it’s a massive game for us.

If we can win that, we could go up to third or fourth and then you’re not far away from the top two – that shows how tight the league is.

James Vince scored 99 against Kent in the T20 last week.

I think he’d be the first to admit that he hasn’t started the season as well as he’d like – I think he’s struggled in the four-day game, which can happen at the start of a season.

But that was a good knock on Friday and I’m sure that he’ll play himself into some form and get in the England squad soon.

I have to say that I didn’t bother watching England at the Ageas Bowl at the weekend. I think a few of the lads did but you need to get away from your workplace sometimes.