The 2002 cricket season may only just be over but already Somerset fast bowler Richard Johnson is looking forward to next season and being involved with one of the best pace attacks in the country.

With West Indian bowler Nixon McLean joining the Cidermen as their second overseas player next season, and the possibility that Andy Caddick might be available more for his county I asked the former Middlesex for his thoughts about the Somerset pace trio.

He told me: "I would love to be a part of that bowling attack. There are not many county sides around who can boast anything quicker, I'm already looking forward to it."

Like all of the other Somerset players `Johnno' is bitterly disappointed with the teams performances that saw them relegated to the second division in both the county championship and the NUL National League for 2003.

He told me: "Of course I'm hugely disappointed that we underachieved as a team and there are lots of reasons why. With a small staff you can't afford to sustain the number of injuries that we had last season. In 2001 Steffan Jones and myself bowled 1200 overs and took 120 championship wickets between us. This season we did not bowl together in a championship match which speaks for itself."

He continued: "Simon Francis was signed as a long term prospect and then because of injury found himself opening the bowling attack alongside Matt Bulbeck who has himself been missing from the scene because of injury for two years. On the batting front we depend a lot upon Jamie Cox and Peter Bowler. Jamie started off well but got injured at Bath and never really recovered his form, and Peter Bowler didn't get so many runs as he did in 2001."

He went on: "In 2001 things seemed to go right for us, we were virtually injury free and we got on a roll. This season at the start we were well placed in several games early on but then the weather denied us and we had a succession of injuries and got into a downward spiral."

Comparing the two seasons he told me: "This season was almost the complete opposite of last season, and it's very hard to explain why unless you have been a part of it."

What about his own season during which he played in nine championship matches and took 43 wickets at a cost of just over twenty one a piece to end top of the Somerset averages.

He told me: "Everytime that I bowled I felt good, and that is why I became so frustrated when I had to miss games because of injury. It wasn't actually my knee that caused the problems it was two hamstring injuries."

What was the situation regarding his injuries I asked. `Johnno' told me: "All of the feedback that I am getting from the specialists is quite encouraging. I have just come back from seeing somebody in London who doesn't think that I need an operation, so we are looking at technical aspects of my action or perhaps injections to help to put things right, so it isn't all doom and gloom."

During the winter `Johnno' will be following his own personal fitness programme that is designed to get him back to full fitness for the start of next season and prevent a reoccurrence of this years problems.

He told me: "We are very disappointed with 2002 but all of us are determined to put things right next year. I'm very upbeat about the whole thing."

Finally I asked him what he felt about the prospect of Mike Burns being captain for 2003. He told me: "It's a great appointment , I think that `Burnsie' will be very good. He gets on well with all the team and will get good support from everybody. We all need to back him next season and help him to do the job."

© SOMERSET