THE rain has finally arrived this week but I’m sure most of us are not complaining.

It has been a fantastic summer so far and as good as I can remember as a cricketer.

Nearly every field that I’ve played on this year has almost been white where the sun has burnt the grass. I’m actually hoping it carries on raining for a while and spice up the pitches a little for the next few games!

We could have done with some rain last week at Northampton. It was going to be a difficult game for both teams after the hustle and bustle of Twenty20.

After losing the toss on a good wicket, Northamptonshire posted a good score of 494. It was hard work for us bowlers as the wicket was different from what we have seen so far this season.

They batted really well and probably adapted better to the four-day format than we did.

Some of our lads were still in T20 mode a little and paid the price for their attacking mindset. We were better in the second innings but the damage had already been done.

But When we bowled in the second innings with Northampton only needing 39 James Harris and myself bowled as well as we have done all year!

Fuelled by anger we both found a good rhythm and troubled the batsman more than the first innings. Bowling can work that way sometimes, some days it just doesn’t click for you and others it does.

I found that the longer the game went on the better the bowling felt. Although James and I bowled a lot of overs going into the game it still takes time to settle.

It is similar to what batsmen have to do with the transition from T20 to four-day cricket.

It’s a shame we have to wait for our County Championship game in Swansea against Leicestershire. It will be like starting again and hopefully we can hit the ground running.

Swansea is a ground that normally favours our bowlers and is famous for being a spinning wicket.

In my opinion we have two of the best spinners in the country with Dean Cosker and Robert Croft. Spin has been an area of strength for us in recent years and hopefully it can win us a few games during the run in.

Next week sees a good family friend Beth Mallet getting married. We have known each other since we were born and it will be a great occasion for her and Darren.

I will only be able to attend the evening party but if Croft and Cosker bowl well hopefully I will be attending the day too!

For us to gain promotion I feel we need to win three out of our remaining seven games. It is very tight at the top so it’s going to be a tough finish.

Pakistan are here to play a home series against Australia. It was great to watch the Lord’s test this week with conditions helping the bowlers and making for an exciting game.

I was thinking the bowlers must be enjoying a bowler-friendly wicket rather than in Lahore where the ball doesn’t bounce about stump high!

The sub-continent seam bowlers have been brought up on placid wickets so have had to become very skillful with the ball, which means they can be difficult to face with the extra bounce when playing in England.

Pakistan look a good exciting side with an excellent seam attack which will challenge England slightly more than Bangladesh did.

My new contract, that keeps me at Glamorgan until the end of 2012, was announced this week.

It was a proud moment to sign the deal after the hard work I had put in during the winter months and early season.

Hopefully I can continue having a good season and help Glamorgan push for promotion into Division One for next season.