Comprehensively losing our last game at Leicestershire was a less than ideal way to finish the season but I could not help but breathe a massive sigh of relief when it was all over.

Jamie Cox - Somerset's season, disappointments this year, ways to improve, young players coming through, coping with England call ups, finding the right balance, the amount of cricket played here, 2 divisions and Somerset's hopes for next year. Watch

It really has been an exhausting six months - not so much physically as mentally - and, as a side, we really did just stagger to the line. However, that we have defended our first division status in both four and one-day cricket leaves me feeling very proud of the Somerset lads in the circumstances.

It has been a summer dominated by the rain (and unfortunately not by my bat) and every championship game at Taunton has been severely reduced by the weather. Cricket in the south-west has really had a different feel to it than last year and the lack of sunshine has seen us fighting for maximum bonus point draws. A dull way to play but our success in getting bonus points at home has been the difference in us staying up for next season.

In the one-day league we missed a great opportunity. We enjoyed a two-point lead at the top of the table with a game in hand on the pack and only four games in total left to play - destiny completely in our own hands. Four losses to finish the season and we finished sixth, only two points ahead of relegation! Performing better as front-runners in must win games is really an area for improvement and all that is standing between us and a trophy next year.

The England central contracts have probably affected Somerset more than any other county, not necessarily as a result of the numbers of players missing but the sheer importance of Andrew Caddick and now Marcus Trescothick to our squad. Caddy's importance and status within the county game is probably best highlighted by the fact that the only two championship games that we won were two of the three for which he was available. Put simply, I believe that he was the difference between Somerset being a genuine championship contender and a relegation battler this year. Losing both him and Matthew Bulbeck to injury effectively took away 140 championship wickets from last year - a blow from which we never really quite recovered. Whilst I firmly believe that the contracting system will greatly benefit the national team (many would argue that it already has, in fact), I think that the amount of rest afforded to those granted them was extreme this year. I understand the reasons for caution but a better balance must be found now that this year of experimentation has been completed.

To work properly it must also become more specific. For example, if Somerset are playing Yorkshire and it is decided that Caddy needs a rest but Darren Gough, Craig White and Michael Vaughan need to play, then so be it. It is this which will be the hardest aspect of the system with which counties will need to come to terms but contracted players can not be rested just because someone in the opposition is!

For now, it is back to an Australian summer and with everything new comes excitement. I have great hopes for my Tasmanian team this year and am anxiously looking forward to our first appointment against South Australia in Adelaide on 14 October - after a couple of well-earned weeks of rest!

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Geez I love the Olympics! Always have and I am sure always will but the experience of watching them take place in Australia whilst abroad has made me feel very home sick, as well as enormously proud. Simply watching the Australian team enter the stadium during the opening ceremony reduced me to a near blubbering mess!

In the UK particularly, Australia and Australians have a well-earned reputation of being sports-mad and very passionate and this has certainly been well enhanced over the past week. Green and gold malaria I think one UK journalist referred to it as! All of the reports coming from Australia really have made my chest swell and the hairs on the back of the neck stand up and I can not wait to fly home next week for the last few days of competition.

The television coverage on the BBC, whilst very comprehensive, has made it particularly difficult - a reality perhaps best highlighted by the commentary for the men's 4x200 freestyle swimming relay (yes, the one where Australia broke the world record by nearly two seconds). The Aussies were clear favourites and never headed yet in the BBC box pandemonium erupted when the Poms looked a chance for bronze. Only when they were touched out for fifth did the camera pan back to find the Aussies well into their celebrations. I am sure Neil Brooks and Dennis Cometti made it all sound a hell of a lot more interesting to all those watching at home!

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