IT’S all in our hands now.

Our brilliant form has pushed us up to second place in the LV County Championship division two table and I was left watching from the sidelines as we claimed plenty of points in the draw against Leicestershire.

My back seems to be alright after the slipped discs incident at Colchester the other week.

It has felt a lot better during the last couple of days and I’ve managed to do some running.

There is only so much the physio can do and it has been a mind-numbing time, with just physiotherapy and sleeping on the floor.

I sat and watched the first three days of the Leicestershire game at Chelmsford and then I couldn’t stand not being involved any more so I went home to Cambridge for a few days to freshen up.

Again it was the batsmen who set the game up for us.

After the situation we were in – with the lowest number of batting points in the division – it has been a remarkable turnaround to now have more than five other teams.

John Maunders was the star with the bat, scoring 150. He has been playing well for weeks but only scoring 20 or 30 and I have been through similar times.

I spoke to him last week about it and he said he felt really good when out in the middle.

It was also great that the innings came against his former county.

He batted for a long time and if you are going to score 150 your scoring rate is going to be compared to that of the likes of Ravi.

However, you need one of the top three to do what John did and Fozzie then came in and scored a century when the ball was older.

Danish then came into his own, taking 12 wickets in the match.

He is absolutely on fire at the moment, with nine wickets at Colchester and another eight at Lord’s before that.

It is the time of year when he is going to have a lot of success.

It was the turn of David Masters and Chris Wright back in May, but now the strips are drier, it is Danish and Tim Phillips who are taking wickets.

Any left-hander is on a hiding to nothing against Danish, with the rough outside off-stump making him to unpredictable.

His combination of control, varying pace and flight is the key to his success.

He has six or seven different deliveries and is always practising them in the nets.

Having faced him quite a lot I know most of them and can spot the googly when fielding at slip.

If he gets a batsman out with one of his unrecognisable deliveries he lets him know which one it was as he trudges off the pitch.

It was a shame we didn’t win the game but 11 points have taken us to second and the race is now on to see who will be promoted along with leaders Kent.

DAVID Masters is now known as ‘The Don’.

He has shocked everyone with his recent batting exploits but does in fact have a First-Class century behind him from when he was at Leicestershire.

He looks a totally different batsman and has been playing like a top-order batter. It certainly appears he has a hidden talent.

What is the secret to it?

Well, he told me he played in a benefit game for Bunbury a few weeks ago and scored big runs, and then played for his club side and hit 70-odd and he felt everything just clicked into place and he’s played like a batsman ever since.

It’s not like he’s just whacking it everywhere either – he’s scoring runs with proper cricket shots.

A few of the lads have had side bets about who is going to score more runs and one of them is between David and Chris Wright.

Now, Chris has not had the best of seasons with the bat and has been batting at number 11 some weeks.

It is not easy being number 11 and we moved Danish up above him so he could have a swing without the repercussions.

David has taken great delight in letting Chris know who is leading in the run stakes!