ALTHOUGH I won’t be there and involved at Arundel tomorrow, I will be backing the second-team boys to bring home our second one-day trophy this season when they turn up for Twenty20 Finals Day.

It has been a fantastic year for the seconds.

We won the one-day Cup earlier in the season, are in with a great chance tomorrow and are nine points behind in the Championship with a game to go and have an outside chance of winning that as well.

The lads in the second team have really enjoyed being together this year and growing a team that can be successful.

It’s taken a few years, and we’ve had a pretty young second team over the last few years. But we’re showing what we can do.

To be in the hunt for all three is brilliant. It’s credit to Ian Dews, Richard Damms and all the players.

The lads have been putting in performances that are worthy of being first-team cricketers in the very near future.

Grooving success is what it’s all about. We had league and cup success in the Academy a few years ago, and you are seeing that coming through in the second team.

Hopefully that will be the first team in an couple of years’ time.

The one thing that has been a real positive for the second team is having the game plan in one-day and T20 cricket fed down from the firsts. The club is playing the same way all the way down to the Academy.

They know their roles - going hard at the top and setting it up for the last 10 overs.

As young players, you can go out and express yourself when you have that plan.

It could be a Roses final at Arundel. We play Hampshire in the first semi-final and Lancashire play Sussex in the other.

Then the women play each other at Headingley on Friday afternoon before our first-team match in the T20 Blast at night.

That is why I’m not involved with the seconds. I’m in the squad for the firsts, and it would be pretty special to play if selected.

The Roses game is the biggest and most exciting of the season, especially with a full house at home.

It would be disappointing if I don’t get the nod and miss the Finals Day as well, but that’s the way it goes when you have such a competitive squad.

We have had such a great record at Headingley in T20 cricket over the last couple of seasons.

That Derbyshire defeat last week was our first in eleven games at Headingley, and a big part of that success has been the support from the fans.

It’s great to play in front of big crowds and, in Friday’s case, sell outs.

Fingers crossed, they help us get back to winning ways by getting stuck into the Lankys.

For us to secure where we want to be - a top four finish and quarter-final qualification in the Blast - I think we need to win all three of our remaining games.

After Lancashire, we have Leicestershire at Grace Road on Saturday afternoon and Northants at Headingley next Thursday night.

We know when we turn up and play our best cricket, we can beat anyone - and that’s in all formats.

I just want to finish by touching on the situation in the County Championship at the moment, which obviously isn’t going how we would like.

We have lost three of our last four games, and I get the frustrations of the fans.

But we’ve always said there is going to be a transitional period at some point – a time where there’s going to be experienced players leaving and young ones coming in.

Still have that expectation, yes. But be patient.

The lads are working hard even though it’s just not happening for us at the minute.

We haven’t had the best of luck with injury, highlighted by Shaun Marsh being out for a week with concussion following his blow on the head against Derbyshire last Thursday.

I’m sure if there was a toss and we won it against Essex, we would have bowled first and the game might have been different. That’s how it goes.

We can’t really have any excuses. But it will happen for us. I’m very confident of that.