The view from New Road

By Ben Smith
Worcestershire batsman

Time in the middle is very important and I feel I am not trying to search for form

We have just returned from a very successful pre-season tour in South Africa and are getting back used to English conditions.

The trip was very good, we had a fantastic 13 days.

We were at 'Potch' university and the facilities there were excellent, with a big gym and the food was top class as well.

We managed to have three or four net days but only because we were playing on all the other days.

We had a games against North West, the Titans and an invitation Xl and we also had one-day and two-day games against Durham.

We knew we had one reason to go there and that was to make sure each individual was able to prepare as they wanted to and as soon as we stepped on the field we were going to play as a team and try to win every game.

I would say for the last five years, pre-season has been very different. Now nobody turns up just to give everyone a bit of practice.

I felt very comfortable in the nets at New Road when we got back, knowing I'd had three hours in the middle against Durham last week. Time in the middle is very important and I feel I am not trying to search for form.

Even so, tactically you have to make a few adjustments to play on English wickets after playing on the harder pitches out there.

Being full-time players for the first time, we started training back in November and our pre-season has been tough. I thought when our fitness peaked in January we might just fall away a bit.

We then started doing several days of cricket a week, but we have kept up our fitness levels, and we are fitter, quicker and stronger, and after the pre-season tour we have some form with the ball and the bat.

This season I have taken on a new role as the club's fielding coach and I am enjoying it. I am not going to reinvent the wheel but I have played long enough to know what I feel the players need in preparation, practice and on match days.

The ideal thing about fielding is that everyone is in there together, it's not a batting or a bowling group

It's just getting it across to the players, and having a bit of a coaches mentality to know what each individual needs and what the group need as well.

The ideal thing about fielding is that everyone is in there together, it's not a batting or a bowling group, everybody is a fielder and it's a bit of a broad spectrum really.

The dynamics of fielding are now quite energetic, with players throwing themselves around in the field, and there are stats galore out there which show why teams can win games by fielding well.

Meanwhile, my benefit season has started well and it has been very busy, but we have a very enthusiastic committee.

I was awarded the benefit in September and at the time I had a level four coaching qualification pending in November. That has since been deferred as I have also been writing the coaching programmes for the academy and satellite academy and they took preference.

With all of that, and being on the 12-month contract, I have never had so much on my plate at once.

But as time has gone on I have learned to sit back a bit, and delegate where I can, and my time management has got a bit better.

All in all cricket will come first, the benefit will come second and everything else will fit round it.

Ben Smith was talking to BBC Hereford and Worcester's Dave Bradley