The awful news of the tragically early death of Surrey’s rising star Tom Maynard made our match against West Indies on his home ground at The Oval a very strange and sombre experience.
During the time immediately after the news filtered through the previous morning, there might have been a feeling the match should not actually be played and it was totally understandable that Jade Dernbach should be given compassionate leave as he was so close to Tom.
But once we were told, after practice that day, that the match was definitely going ahead, for us it was a case of getting on with things as best we could and producing as professional a performance as possible to make sure we did Tom proud.
Reflection: England's players line up in a mark for respect for Tom Maynard at The Oval this week
I’d met Tom a few times over the years because when his dad, Matthew, was assistant coach to Duncan Fletcher, he would come on tour for a couple of weeks here and there.
I remember him bowling at us in the nets on one of those occasions, when he must have been 15 or 16 and, after he started playing full-time for Glamorgan, he’d also been 12th man for England when we played at Cardiff, so some of us knew him pretty well. And the word was he had a very good chance of going on to play for England.
He had loads of natural talent. In his first couple of years at Glamorgan he was quite raw but, by all accounts, the move to Surrey improved his game. Though I never played against him, from what I heard and saw of him batting on TV, he was definitely going in the right direction.
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The minute’s silence made it more difficult in some ways. The lads were really still in shock and it was only 10 minutes before the start of the game. But Alastair Cook said we should try to use the feelings we had. Tom was definitely in our thoughts all day and it was pleasing that we were able to win the game as our tribute to him.
It was a really solid performance right from the start, nothing flashy about it, just solid. Obviously Chris Gayle hit a few big sixes at the start of their innings but I thought we stuck to our task really well.
When something happens like that you realise there are a lot more important things going on in the world than being hit for a couple of sixes by Gayle. Maybe it felt a bit easier to brush that off than it might have done. But whatever our feelings on the day and since then, none of us players can possibly comprehend what Tom Maynard’s family must be going through and our thoughts and prayers are with them.
Tragic death: Tom Maynard Don't lose the aura of the AshesSomeone reminded me that I played 14 one-dayers against Australia before finally winning one. Not surprising since they were a pretty decent team.
A more concerning statistic is that between now and the end of back-to-back Ashes series Down Under in January 2014, we are due to play against them, in all competitions, something like 30 times.
I don’t know about the ins and outs of why we are playing these five ODIs starting this week.
It’s a shame we are only playing three Tests against South Africa, particularly as, to me, it’s the second biggest Test series after the Ashes.
There is an obvious danger that people might start getting a little bit fed up with England playing Australia.
I hope that doesn’t happen because fixtures against Australia have always been really special.
Precious: Alastair Cook, Graeme Swann and Anderson celebrate a famous Ashes victory in Sydney Getting back in the swingEngland's Twenty20 match against West Indies at Trent Bridge is a reminder that the 2012 World T20 is only half a summer away, starting on September 17 in Sri Lanka, and that we are the current world champions.
It’s also a reminder that the last time I played a T20 game was a couple of years ago, so I don’t really know if I’m any good at it or not!
All I can say is that I want to play for England as many times as I can in every format available.
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