IT WAS a big disappointment to hear that Jason Gillespie will be leaving us. To take a club from the second division to promotion and back-to-back titles, he'll be a big loss.

He let us know on Monday morning, similar to you guys, but it wasn't really a surprise. As players, you could see it coming.

We were due to have a good chat to him on the coach on the way down to Hampshire to get the full ins and outs of his decision. His family have played a huge part in that. They have gone back to Australia and he's a very proud family man.

It's disappointing but the club will continue to move forward. It puts a little bit more on the last four Championship games. If we can win a third title, it will be an exceptional send-off to a great coaching stint at Yorkshire.

It's going to be a tough act to follow for a new coach but it's one of the most wanted jobs in world cricket outside of an international role. That's the other side of it. It may be a little bit daunting – but they've got a great opportunity.

Over the next four or five years, the squad will go through quite a lot of change due to the age of some players. It could be a really exciting time for a new coach in that respect.

Diz has seen us develop massively over the last five years but it's getting towards that time when there will be a bit of a transition period.

Looking at it that way, it might be an ideal time for a new coach to come in and oversee that rebuilding process through signings and bringing the Academy lads on.

Personally, Diz has been massively helpful to me. Any captain and coach has to build a good relationship and that's happened. It was a relationship that I hoped would continue to develop but I'll have to start a rapport with somebody else now.

Losing against Surrey in the Royal London Cup semi-final on Sunday was a massive disappointment – but we should have chased down 256. If we find ourselves in that position again, we need to be better if we want to win white ball trophies.

Being successful in limited-overs cricket is not an overnight thing. We are still a work in progress and we need to back it up.

We got to the T20 Finals Day in 2012 and this year and the semi-finals of this competition two years running now but the test is to do it year on year.

Surrey won the important periods in the game on Sunday, which is what we'll do if we can keep getting to the knockout stages.

We have trusted the Yorkshire lads to do the business this season. We have played large chunks of our white-ball campaigns without an overseas player and the lads can hopefully benefit from that in the future.

Tim Bresnan is someone we can all learn from. He was superb on Sunday with bat and ball and has been all season.

Brez has found his method, he's assured with what he wants to do with bat and ball and we can look at that and see where we need to improve coming back next year.

While it's disappointing, we'll be okay for the rest of the season. Red-ball cricket, the best team over the four days wins the game. White-ball cricket is different. All it takes is one spell and you lose.

The Championship is the only trophy we can now win and hopefully we can make it three from three.

We are playing some really good red-ball cricket at the moment, highlighted by our win over Notts last week from 51-6 in our first innings. We have four games and we're in the hunt.

* Alex and his sponsors Pennine Business Partners are aiming to Hit Cancer for Six in 2016. They are donating £10 to the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust every time Alex hits a six or takes a catch and are asking cricket lovers everywhere to support this great cause, which provides special care and support to young people fighting cancer. Visit Pennine Business Partners page on Just Giving https://www.justgiving.com/Pennine-Business-Partners.