THE trip to the Rose Bowl turned out to be a rather frustrating one for Kent and, judging by his comments, for Shane Warne, too.

The pitch, as is often the case down there, favoured the bowlers.

Perhaps the absence of the injured Amjad Khan reduced our firepower and therefore our chances to really dominate the match and in the end we had little option but to settle for the draw and eight points.

On the positive side, the lads really turned it on against Ireland in the C&G Trophy at Tunbridge Wells, as, with Shahid Afridi and Saqlain Mushtaq, they have proven match-winners in their side.

Both could have caused us serious problems, particularly in a game reduced to 23 overs per side. The fewer the overs the greater the chance of an upset in limited overs cricket.

I was most pleased with our fielding display, particularly in such tricky conditions. Last season we were not a great one-day fielding unit, but we look much sharper and are able to create some pressure on the batsmen.

On the England front, Kevin Pietersen continues to show pure cricketing class and I can assure you his success is something of an embarrassment to some back home in South Africa.

I’m sure there are those who hope he fails every time but I hope they also enjoy his awesome stroke-making. Kevin moved to England because he felt a victim of the selection quota system in South Africa.

Some administrators arrogantly commented that he was moving to England because he wasn’t good enough to make it back home. How wrong they turned out to be!

I hope those same people will ensure they do not lose such talent again.