ALL-ROUNDER Graham Napier is hoping to finish the season on a high after the disappointment of another T20 semi-final defeat.
Napier starred with the bat to help the Eagles to what looked like a competitive total against Northamptonshire, but the Steelbacks chased it down fairly comfortably.
The Steelbacks went on to win the competition, but Napier insisted that did not ease the pain of the defeat.
He said: "There's no consolation in it really because we felt we could have beaten them if we'd played well enough, but we didn't.
"It's disappointing that we didn't come home with the trophy.
"I'd rather forget about Saturday really.
"The best team in the tournament won it on the day.
"They turned up and batted superbly in both games and we just didn't get it right with the ball."
Essex have an instant chance for revenge over Northamptonshire as the two sides clash in a crucial LV> Championship game at Colchester, which started yesterday.
And Napier is relishing the finale to what he believes has been his best four-day season to date.
He has recorded his career-best first-class bowling figures and, in the early months at least, repeatedly got his side out of a hole with the bat.
He added: "We're back into the four-day competition, playing against the same team and if we have a good week here then we'll come out of it in a good position in the table ahead of the last run of games.
"The Championship this year has been my most consistent throughout my career.
"I want to carry on that form for the rest of the season, especially coming back home, it would be nice to go out and keep taking wickets and scoring runs.
"I've always said the last few years that my form when I'm on the field is fine as long as I'm fully fit.
"I've managed to stay like that all summer, we've got six games to go and it would be nice to finish off without missing a game."
The Colchester-born 33-year-old is relishing the chance to play in his home town and is looking forward to what he hopes will be a successful few days for the county.
"It's home," he added. "It's the home of cricket for me. It's nice to come back, there's so many friendly and familiar faces about.
"Promotion is there for the taking. We've got to play a lot of good cricket – we've got five games of tough cricket coming up and if we play well in all those games we'll be there or thereabouts.
"It's just doing your job, getting out there, scoring the runs and taking the wickets. "
