THE CAPTAIN of England is out first ball! Essex, chasing a target of 125, are very soon 24 -4. This was the scene at Bristol last week.
James Fuller, bowling with speed and hostility, totally defeated Alastair Cook. A tentative prod was no match for an outstanding delivery. James took two more wickets as Essex seemed in danger of subsiding.
It was so different three days later. Gloucestershire had controlled the T20 game against Sussex. It was the 19th over and Sussex needed 43 runs to win with 12 balls remained. Fuller, the conqueror of Cook, was surely the man to wrap up a Gloucestershire win as he started the over.
Disaster followed. The over, which included two no balls, yielded 34 runs. The game was lost.
Next morning at The Oval (more wretched match scheduling), James was bowling again. His opening spell of six overs yielded just three runs. He was back in control. The awful Bristol over was behind him.
Of course, it is not that simple. The disastrous over cost us the two points for victory and made the chances of qualifying for the lucrative final stages of the competition very difficult.
Last year in the T20, an ECB-imposed penalty (a poor Cheltenham pitch) held us back. This year, it is the inconsistency of our players which has cost us more than the two-point fine.
It has been a problem in the county championship as well. We are not talking ability here but something more important – performance.
Chris Dent started the season in prolific form, now he cannot buy a run. The promising Will Tavare is suffering from second-season syndrome. David Payne’s in-and-out form as a bowler shows that inconsistency occurs throughout the team. True ability is determined by good performances day-in day-out. Our players come to the  Cheltenham Festival with much to prove.
I can imagine many people regarding The Oval as their spiritual home. It is a wonderful cricket ground. Everywhere you go there are pictures or memorabilia that reflect its proud history as a Test match venue and the home of Surrey County Cricket Club.
There is so much to see, whether you are there for cricket or a close-season function.
By comparison, the Bristol Pavilion, although well appointed, seems more like the Filton Hilton. We have a proud cricket history in Gloucestershire and we should not be afraid to display it.
On the subject of The Oval, Gloucestershire did it again! Fail, that is.
Ironically, the chief Surrey hit man is Tom Curran, son of our former player Kevin. After Surrey posted an impressive 448 all out, they hammered the visitors and sent Gloucestershire reeling to an abysmal 113 all out in reply.
Only Hamish Marshall, who stood his ground for two hours and 19 minutes to score 34 and a brisk 30 in 45 minutes from co-captain Geraint Jones gave Gloucestershire any sort of respectability. Without those knocks, the reply would have been embarrassing as four players failed to get off the mark at all as Curran finished with seven wickets for 20 runs from 15 overs.
And after the T20 game at The Oval on Wednesday, our players have a week to regroup before the Cheltenham Festival gets underway.
Ever the optimist, Mrs Light is telling me all will be well. I wish I and the players had her confidence.
Finally, to end on a good note, I must offer my congratulations to former Yate Town defender Tyrone Mings for a real rags-to-riches career rise.
Mings started his career with Southampton but was told he was never going to make it. Yate took him on and, from there, he went to Chippenham Town to Ipswich Town in the Championship and has now been sold to Premier League new boys Bournemouth for £8 million.
He has also been rated as a future England international and could do just that if Bournemouth stay up. Unfortunately, Yate Town did not, it is believed, have a sell-on clause for the defender who left for his home town side, Chippenham, with very best wishes from Lodge Road.
But it just shows that footballers with some potential, given the chance by non-league teams, can flourish into somebody outstanding.
And you just wonder what Southampton are thinking after their south coast rivals snapped up such an excellent player who was chased in January by the likes of Arsenal. The red faces now at Southampton should match their stripes after they had the player in their grasp but let him go!