Slowly but surely the squad is pulling itself together as the shock of Umer Rashid 's death recedes.

We will never forget his charismatic smile and energy that lit up the dressing room on the dullest of days but Umer was a positive character and he surely would want us to carry on playing in the same vein as last year; brimming with confidence and with a smile on our faces.

We cannot afford to let what has happened affect our performances adversely this year.

To those of you who were at The Oval, or who read the scores in the papers, it may not have looked like it but the self-assurance is returning to the side.

The biggest sign of this is the return of the team banter. For a couple of weeks after the tragedy in Grenada, there were stony faces all round. No farts, burps or puerile gags came forth.

Completely understandable in the circumstances but a cricket team without farts, burps and puerile gags is like a Formula One car with a Ford Fiesta engine.

The driver can still turn it on and drive it around the track but the energy and power will not be there (without wishing to do a disservice to Ford; I happen to think the Fiesta is a fine car and I have one myself but it also fits conveniently into the simile).

I think it was during the second day at The Oval when it happened. A little burp from Tim Ambrose after lunch.

This was followed up by a Stuart Osborne ripper and I knew then that the witty, sophisticated repartee that constitutes a cricket dressing room's banter was here again.

Pretty soon Tony Cottey was a midget again, I was lanky and we needed an interpreter for Paul Hutchison's northern drawl.

Spirits are still high despite a fairly resounding loss to Surrey in our first championship game.

It would not be professional enough to use the pre-season's off-field events as an excuse for our underachievement in the game.

For sure it has hit us hard, but Surrey had lost an equally popular and influential player in Ben Hollioake and yet they were able to perform to a higher level than us.

We bowled poorly on the first day and you can't bowl poorly against the likes of Alec Stewart and Ali Brown on a flat wicket and get away with it.

There were many positives that we could take from the game, however. James Kirtley bowled well with the new ball and showed a few more people that his new action has made him an even better bowler.

Michael Yardy batted with a mature head and demonstrated a lot of skill in our first innings.

He suffered an attack of the nervous nineties as any batsman does when nearing his first ton but no one in the team doubts he'll reach the landmark before too long.

It was also great to see the wee man Tony Cottey back in the side and making the runs he had been promising to make in an impressive pre-season.

After his disappointment with his injury last year, he is extremely determined to score a boatload of runs this year.

It's also great to have his chirpy comments around the dressing room again. It's like having a new signing playing for us. The other positive is the captain's batting.

Grizz played a wonderful counter-attacking innings at The Oval and we will certainly need his runs this year. Somerset will be a big challenge this week.

There will be no easy games in the first division and we will have to scrap like terriers to succeed in it, farts, burps, cheap gags and all.