I’m in Paris at the moment as the coaching staff have given me time off between the Test matches and the one-dayers next week. I’m not in the squad for the two Twenty20 matches, so I’ve come over here with my girlfriend to relax. We’ve had a couple of days in Disneyland and a few days in Paris before it’s back to London.

What happened at The Oval was very disappointing for Australian cricket – the consistency with bat and ball from Headingley was sadly lacking. The wicket performed differently to how we anticipated and changed dramatically on the first day and that has hurt us in the end. People say we should have picked a spinner but if the wicket hadn’t broken up so much on that first day things could have been totally different.

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Who says you can’t have the main course and then the starter? Who says you can’t have the main course and then seven starters? The England v Australia one-day series is about to start. Pick up the smaller of your two forks and tuck in so that the chef doesn’t get offended.

Yet county cricket is abandoning 50-over matches at the end of the season. 40-over cricket was supposed to go but the counties are so far behind fashion, things have gone full circle. While the Pro40 ends, the ECB has made sure 50-over cricket becomes 40-overs.

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