ALL-ROUNDER Ryan ten Doeschate is pleased to be part of a team challenging on all fronts this season.
After a shaky start, Essex have found form in both the four-day and YB40 formats and are well-placed in both competitions.
And with the T20 – ten Doeschate's forte – set to begin in just over a fortnight, things are looking up for the Dutchman.
A swashbuckling 180 from 98 balls against Scotland aside, he has found runs hard to come by since returning from the IPL, but the 32-year-old is sure he will soon be in the runs again.
"I took a week where I was a bit slow out of the blocks," he said. "But I worked really hard and I felt fantastic.
"I am disappointed that I haven't got any runs really.
"I'm feeling good and it feels like runs are just around the corner."
There was, however, the blitz against the Scots last week, where he smashed 15 sixes, and it was an innings he enjoyed.
He added: "It's good that I'm hitting sixes again which is obviously my strong point in one-day cricket.
"But I'm keen to do it in matches which are going to be more closely-fought battles where the points are going to mean a lot more than they did in that game – without being disrespectful to Scotland.
"I'm doing all the right things and I feel like runs are around the corner so it's just a case of going out there and getting the runs.
"You just feel like you can hit every ball for six. I know it's a bizarre thing to say but you've got confidence in being able to clear the boundary.
"It's hard to explain, but you feel like you can get a boundary off every ball unless it's a very good ball."
Ten Doeschate made just six in the unsuccessful run chase as the Eagles were beaten by Derbyshire on Sunday, and he admits the performance led to a frustrated away dressing room at Leek.
"We didn't put on our best performance with the ball or the bat," he admitted. "Although it was a very good pitch and a smallish ground, we probably gave away 20 runs too many and despite being up with the rate pretty much throughout the innings, we lost wickets all the time and couldn't chase the score down.
"We were very frustrated afterwards, because it was an opportunity to win another game."
Derbyshire rattled up 321-5 in their 40 overs, and even though Essex scored at almost eight an over themselves, they fell 63 runs short.
And ten Doeschate believes the high scores in recent games – the Eagles themselves scored more than 300 against Scotland and Surrey – are indicative of the changing nature of one-day cricket.
"I think the game has changed a hell of a lot with the fielding regulations," he said. "I think the days of 260 being a good score are out of the window.
"We scored probably at seven an over for most of the innings, we needed to be closer to eight but as was the way with their innings, it was easily gettable, but it was the fact we lost wickets at regular intervals."
The Friends Life t20 campaign starts when Hampshire visit Chelmsford for a sold-out fixture on June 28, and ten Doeschate revealed work has already begun in training towards a successful campaign – but that it remains at the back of the mind for the time being.
"We're all looking forward to the Twenty20," he added. "We've had a good start in the four-dayers and the one-dayers.
"Because we're so heavily involved in the points race in those competitions you push the Twenty20 back a little bit, but that's a good thing I think.
"We have already started working for Twenty20 in training, death bowling and that sort of stuff, but for the next two weeks we're focused on the two County Championship games and the one-day game against Lancs."
