I Want To Improve - Denesh Ramdin

It is a pleasure to continue writing these diaries. I sincerely hope that I have many good things to write about during the series.

This is my first tour to England with senior team and am looking forward to what will be a tough series. A lot has been said by just about everyone about the English conditions but I think I am capable of coping with whatever comes our way. It is just for me to work hard and focus on the basic things with my batting and wicketkeeping.

I'm looking forward to doing well on this tour and particularly to get some runs behind my name to help the team put a competitive total on the board.

Quite a few of the senior players have been giving me a lot of tips on how to approach certain situations when batting and particularly on how to build an innings and establish partnerships. On this tour I have set out to try to get as much information as possible with both batting and wicketkeeping so that I can improve and be successful for the team and myself but obviously I always want to put the team first.

All of the guys have been working really hard for the past couple of days even though most of it has been indoors with the persistent rain here in Taunton. Despite the limited playing time outdoors we are still keen and we are looking forward to the first Test at Lord's.

We are obviously disappointed that we did not get much actual cricket in against Somerset. With such a short time to prepare we needed to spend a lot more time in the middle. Unfortunately some of the guys did not get as long a hit as they had wanted. However I think they are good enough to come good on match day in the first Test.

I have to compliment Runako Morton and Shiv Chanderpaul on the way they played. We were in trouble at 44 for 4 and they dug us out of that hole with sensible batting. Runako played aggressively but intelligently while Shiv made sure he stayed at the crease. I think Shiv, with his experience, went out there and batted for the team and as he guided Runako through the period where we needed both of them to bat out the day and build a substantial partnership. Congratulations again to them and I hope that they can carry on throughout the tour.

In terms of the weather I was expecting it to be less cold than it is at the moment but as everyone knows the English weather can change quickly and dramatically so you never know what the weather is like when you get up on any day.

I also have to mention how excellent the facilities here are and how well the Somerset folks have looked after us. They did everything to ensure that despite the poor weather we were able to train indoors and utilize the time meaningfully rather than just sitting around in the dressing room. A special thank you to Somerset County Cricket Club for their lovely hospitality.