I CAN safely say this has been my best ever week of cricket.

From a team point of view, we beat Kent in the championship and then Middlesex in the Twenty20 And from a personal viewpoint, the runs have finally flowed – and show no sign of stopping!

It all started at Tunbridge Wells where we enjoyed a thrilling four-day game – something you can’t say that often about matches of that length.

It was four-days of great cricket and the two umpires said they were pleased to be a part of it as well.

We possibly mis-read the pitch as we thought it was going to get worse and worse, but, in fact, it improved as the game progressed.

It was tricky to bat on to start with and to make 280 in the first innings was an achievement, and taking two wickets before the end of the first day made a big difference.

Then we bowled Kent out for 175 on a wicket which had eased. They had the likes of Ryan McLaren coming in at number nine, which says a lot about how strong their batting is.

With a first innings lead we were in a nice position and in the past we have been guilty of not making the most of decent positions.

When you are on top you have to beat them into submission and this time we were relentless.

It took us until the end of the last day to win it, but that is what four-day cricket is all about.

There were a few significant moments during the latter stages of the game.

The first was my hundred – the first competitive century by an Essex player this season.

I can always sense when I am playing well – not necessarily in the zone – but in the frame of mind to bat for a long time, and I felt like that.

I knew we had to work towards the declaration and the wicket was getting flatter. I should have scored a century in the first innings with the way I was feeling but had to make do with a 50.

Normally, I get nervous when I’m in the 90s, but this time there were none.

I had to declare by 3.10pm to let our bowlers have a go at Kent before tea and Napes was helping by rotating the strike and producing some lusty blows.

It was a great feeling walking off the pitch not out, with a hundred to my name. It has been a long time coming, but now I want more.

When Kent batted again, we called on Danish Kaneria, who is able to make a breakthrough whatever the state of play.

And breakthrough he did...along with an unfamiliar Essex bowler by the name of Alastair Cook.

I watched him bowl to James Foster that morning before play and thought why not?

He would be classified as an off-spinner, but I say he’s more of a no-spinner or arm-ball bowler, whose Doosra is yet to see the light of day.

For some reason Joe Denly, who scored a hundred, had a brain explosion and gave us the wicket we needed.

Kent were chasing 478 and that is a heck of a lot of runs. Although they were going along well, they were only ever one wicket away from having to rebuild and Danish did the rest.