My England call-up and avoiding the bar at a wedding
August 16
Sunday morning. I heard I was in the one-day squad for the NatWest Series and the ICC Champions Trophy. I don’t think I did anything wrong when I was in the squad at the ICC World Twenty20 and it’s great they’re keeping the faith with me.
I’d just flown back to London for our Pro40 game with Leicester: I’d flown straight out to Dublin on Friday after the end of the county game with Essex, for my brother’s wedding on the Saturday. Strange being at a wedding knowing I had to be a professional athlete again back in another country 24 hours later. I tried to stay as far away from the bar as possible!
I can’t wait to join up with England. There’s no denying I have struggled a bit in county cricket this summer. But I’ve had a hint of bad luck along the way: I’ve been caught down the leg-side three times and had a couple of unlucky decisions. I keep a diary of how I get out. A lot of players do, even though, at international level, you’ll have an analyst logging it all anyway.
Nothing’s leaping out from the log-book about where I’m going wrong; maybe I’m losing concentration and choosing the wrong shots, so I have to work on my decision-making. I’ll work it out for myself, though it’s good to have had someone like Owais Shah around at Middlesex this summer for advice.
We had five championship games in five weeks and I think when you’re low on runs that can be quite tough: you’re playing a lot, but not getting much chance to practice. And, for me, I’m still feeling my way as a four-day batter. One-day cricket is my bread and butter: I love it, it’s what I’ve always played. M y championship cricket is still developing.
August 23
I had the day at home for the last day of the Ashes which was brilliant. I was delighted for the boys.
As someone who has been inside the England set-up I didn’t give any credence at all to all the talk after the fourth Test of bringing back Mark Ramprakash or Rob Key. That was all generated by the media. Having seen the way the set-up works, I thought there was no chance of picking someone from left-field. As I’ve seen with my own selection for the one-dayers, there’s a culture of continuity and backing the players who you’ve rated all along.
Having sat on my sofa at home watching the Ashes and gone down the local for a couple of drinks to celebrate, it’s great to know that a week later, I’ll be in the middle of it, playing Australia. Awesome. I’ve not played the Aussies much before – the game at Worcester for the Lions in July and a game for Ireland at the 2007 World Cup when Glenn McGrath bowled us out for 93.
August 25
Fly to Belfast with England. We have a team meeting and the coach and the captain talk. They say there’s a lot of talent in the room, we’re a young side and we should go out and play our own positive cricket. My own aims for the series? To take any chance I get!
