Pett Sounds: Twenty20 knockout is a real blow to us

12:40pm Thursday 2nd July 2009

By Essex Cricket Captain Mark Pettini

OUR Twenty20 campaign came to a really sad end and I’ve had lots of people asking me what went wrong.

Well, we should have gone into the final match against Hampshire on Sunday having already qualified.

It was a lovely sunny day in front of a packed crowd, but we’d added extra pressure to the occasion by losing to Middlesex at Lord’s on Friday.

It’s been a long and interrupted competition this season, with the World Twenty20 and Ashes depriving us of key players.

The competition was effectively split into three for us. The first stage was when we had our full team out and won two out of three games, with the third rain-affected.

The second stage saw us play three games in a week when we lost the likes of Napes, Ravi, Fozzie and Tendo to the World Cup and we only won once.

Somewhere along the line we should have already qualified so the last game would not have mattered.

However, we were guilty of not playing well enough during the critical moments throughout the competition. We needed to seize the moment and didn’t do it.

The games we won we did so convincingly, and then there were the games in the middle when the side was decimated.

I don’t think you can level any criticism at the players who came in to replace those who were away.

Varun Chopra came in at Lord’s and scored 50 when the rest of us struggled and you can’t just blame individuals – we take collective responsibility.

IT is odd to have a week off cricket, but that is what the fixture list has given us.

Some of the lads have gone down to Taunton to play for Essex seconds to try and keep in shape, while others are putting their feet up and having a rest.

I played in a Twenty20 game at Saffron Walden where we took an Essex XI and I’ll be playing club cricket on Saturday to make sure I stay in nick.

Varun Chopra has gone to Alton Towers and may be doing Thorpe Park as well and I may well join him, although I’m keen to escape the summer crowds and just enjoy the rare opportunity to relax.

Some of you may have heard Napes doing a spot of commentary on the England Ladies match against Australia at Chelmsford on Monday.

And no doubt he was there to check out the talent – not just the cricketing talent on display!

WE’RE halfway through the season in terms of the calendar, but there is plenty of championship cricket to play.

The first half of the season has seen us knocked out of both the Friends Provident Trophy (FPT) and the Twenty20, but we didn’t do too badly in the FPT, although I had hopes of us winning it again.

We have been desperate for a long time now to get back up to division one, with all the players, coaches and supporters wanting us in the top flight and we are in a position where we have a decent chance.

On a personal note, I found form hard to come by at the start of the season, and the runs then began to flow in the Twenty20 before I really hit form in the championship.

I feel I’m hitting form at the right time of the season and am hoping to score heavily in the second half of the season.

Larry Grayson and I sat down to discuss who we were going to replace Danish Kaneria with while he is away playing for Pakistan.

We are down on first innings batting points in the championship and have Tim Phillips back to full fitness and James Middlebrook available in the spin department – as well as Tom Westley.

You look around the world at where the best batsman are and they tend to be Australians, who are of course about to play in the Ashes.

So we then looked at the South Africans and Amla was available and looked class when I saw him bat during the winter.

He scored 100 and was outstanding off the back foot. I expect him to bat at three.

With him coming, rather than a spinner, it is a big chance for James and Tim, with it being a time of the season when they can be match-winners.

I WAS sad to see Michael Vaughan announce his retirement from cricket this week.

Anyone who saw the press conference when he relinquished the England captaincy will have seen how much he cares and again, it looked hard on him when he made his announcement the other day.

He has always been one of my favourite players as a batsman and Larry Grayson put me in touch with him when I took over the Essex captaincy so I could have a chat.