IT WAS extremely gutting to lose a game against Somerset that we should have comfortably won – especially with it being a derby game, writes David Payne.

You have to give them credit for their 'death' bowling but it should never have come down to that.

We knew that in Alfonso Thomas they have one of the best death bowlers around and we should have made sure that the game was won before the last over.

The lads were really disappointed in the dressing room afterwards. Some defeats you try to move on from straight away but we didn’t want to just leave it as we know we should have won.

It is always great to play in a derby match and the atmosphere at Taunton is completely different to a normal game.

You don’t often play in front of that number of people and I used to find it quite intimidating as the crowd down there don’t make you feel too welcome!

I got quite a lot of banter from their supporters but I find that if you give a bit back and have a bit of fun with it then it can be quite enjoyable.

I was getting some stick on Friday about my weight. Some guys were telling me I needed to put on 20 kilos so I just turned around and gave them the ‘gun show’ (flexed the arm muscles) and that went down quite well.

That way of dealing with things is something I learned from (ex-Gloucestershire captain) Chris Taylor when he was here and it definitely helps take the pressure off.

At the end of the day we all aspire to play international cricket where the crowds are much bigger and more vocal so it is something you need to learn to deal with.

The result at Somerset has dented our hopes of making the top four but we will give it our all until the end of the campaign. We have two big games coming up this week, Essex – who are top of the table – on Friday (July 18) and Surrey with their all-star batting line-up on Sunday (July 20).

The fact that they are at Cheltenham will add to the spectacle. The guys all love playing there and the atmosphere is always fantastic.

There are a few rumours that Kevin Pietersen could be in the Surrey side and it would be great for the crowd to see him at Cheltenham.

I played against him in a T20 a few years back and we won the game so if he does play it won’t be a challenge any of us would be shying away from.