The view from New Road

By Ben Smith
Worcestershire batsman

Ben Smith hit 43 in Worcestershire's second innings against Lancashire.

It's been a mixed week or so for us, with a draw at Headingley, an FPT win at home to Notts and then a defeat in the Championship against Lancashire.

Our four-day form has not got any better really. We are battling with the bat, day in day out, and again with the ball.

We probably haven't consistently hit the right areas on the pitch.

It has taken its toll. It is telling and there is no hiding in First Division cricket.

You have got to be able to hang in there and try and take the initiative when it's there.

Once you are behind the eight ball it takes something very special from the team, or from an individual, to get back into the game.

The lads played really well at Headingley. It was a good wicket to bat on later in the game, but their concentration levels were great there.

It has been a slightly different wicket back here at New Road.

There have been a few gremlins in it and we were on the back foot after the first innings against Lancashire.

It was always going to be difficult to bat back into the game after they got a big first innings lead.

If we could have left them 220-250 we would have felt we were in the game.

If we'd got some early wickets, we'd have been a bit more upbeat in the field. But defending 122 isn't realistically a high enough total to defend, particularly as the pitch had flattened out a bit.

Personally, I worked very hard for my 40-odd on Friday.

The situation I am in is that when I bat I have to battle and try and get the team into a stronger position and also for my own runs.

I haven't played as fluently I would have liked to have over the past two seasons.

But I got past 1,000 runs last season, and the innings I played were vital when we won.

I do miss the personal elation of getting to three figures, but I am confident it will come if I carry on working hard.

Vikram Solanki got a great double hundred against Yorkshire and Moeen Ali had a good knock at Headingley. It's the old adage of spending time in the middle.

Moeen invested time up front in that innings and cashed in later on. It's so much easier when you can do that, and he batted against Lancashire like a man in form, which is is.

We are back to the one-day game this week, and it's very much about momentum.

Going to Nottingham won't be easy, but we know we have to keep going and not resting on our laurels.

I feel our fielding has been decent. There's been some individuals that have improved. If we get off to a good start in the field we can find it a lot easier to keep that quality going for the 50 overs.

As with batting and bowling you can't afford to get behind, and it's difficult to get back if you drop an early catch or misfield.

You do get your chance to do that in one-day cricket and you can swing it round easily.

We have a very busy time coming up in June with the Benefit Year and you can get all the details on my website www.bensmithbenefit.com.

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

Every Worcestershire game is covered with ball by ball commentary on BBC Hereford and Worcester on 738 am and on line at bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester.