It was good to be able to hobble to a couple of Glamorgan matches this last week but what was not so heartening were the results of the two matches at Cheltenham and Worcester.

Two losses have now made it a big uphill task for Glamorgan to retain their National League title. And what is most galling is that Glamorgan had it well within their grasp to win both those matches.

Last year, as a management team, we continually stressed the need for all players to take responsibility and "be the man" as I liked to put it. In other words to take the onus of winning on your own shoulders rather than leaving it for others to do so.

I am sure the same emphasis is being placed on that now but unfortunately it did not happen at either Cheltenham or Worcester, especially among the batsmen.

A glance at either scorecard will reveal a succession of batsmen who have got themselves in and then got out when seemingly set; criminal in my view and the reason why we did not emerge victorious from either game.

Tuesday night was full of drama. Who would have thought such entertainment would occur when it was teeming with rain in mid-afternoon?

But full credit to the ground staff at New Road and to the players for their enthusiasm to entertain.

Some Glamorgan members might have been complaining about the seemingly unfair application of the cut off time for Worcestershire to have bowled their overs but that should not be used as an excuse. Indeed we should not be relying on such things to aid us.

We had a bit of luck with that last year at Taunton, when incidentally Barry Dudleston who was standing on Tuesday was also standing as umpire, but it was not to be this time.

Quite rightly in my opinion the umpires do allow the fielding side some leeway when the conditions are wet and the game has been reduced.

Of course the result might have been different if Adrian Dale had not suffered that nasty looking injury. It brought back memories for me of my similar problems at the hands of an Alex Wharf bouncer in the pre season nets at Cardiff this year.

What made it look worse for me - and prompted me to utter some expletives at the back of the BBC Wales commentary box (I hope no one heard them!) - was the fact that the ball had lodged between Adrian's grille and peak of his helmet. That must have been frightening.

But when I spoke to Adrian the following morning he seemed oblivious to that, and was in remarkably chirpy spirits given that he had nine stitches around his eye. He may even be playing in the Championship game which starts today. They breed 'em tough in Chepstow.

Back to a familiar theme with a slightly different twist.

I was amazed and enraged in equal measure to read in the newspapers last Tuesday of the game between Gloucestershire and India A at Cheltenham the day after the home side had been victorious against Glamorgan.

It was fair enough that the Glosters fielded only three players who had appeared the previous day, but wait for this ....

They fielded three overseas players!

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistani off spinner who played against us was fair enough. But in addition they hired two New Zealanders, Craig McMillan and Chris Harris for the day. Unbelievable. What a waste of money. Did they not have any local youngsters who could have been given the opportunity to play a game at the highest level?

You never know, they might have unearthed someone special.

What sort of message does this send out to all the young lads playing in the second team? Nothing changes it seems. It was very much like that when I was a youngster coming through the ranks. I can't believe that I even stopped to think of joining them.

And finally another word for that shy and retiring chief executive of Somerset, Peter Anderson, who this week wrote letters to ten players warning them that their careers are on the line unless they pull their fingers out for the rest of the season.

This is in line with the EWCB directive that county cricketers now have to be told more regularly where they stand in terms of their future contract prospects. I know that Glamorgan are considering a grading system just for this purpose. But why do Somerset have to be so public about it?

Steve James