MY PRIDE AND JOY
Hundred up and now I want to cap it all with a Test victory!
IT WAS a proud moment to be handed a cap with the three lions on it and 100 underneath because they haven’t been dished out too often and to receive it from one of my former captains in Andrew Strauss, who has helped me a lot throughout my career, made it extra special.
It’s obviously a big occasion but I’m only 30 and I want to play for a lot longer so I don’t see it as a milestone I’ve been particularly aiming for as such. The most exciting thing about it is being a part of this squad because we are building towards some huge series and it could be that we are peaking as a side at just the right time.
FIVE ENGLAND PEAKS
THIS is actually my fifth England cap because you are awarded them on debut, after 25 Tests, 50, 75 and now 100, but I’ve only ever worn my first — and of course my floppy hat — on the field.
I always dash a little bit of champagne on to it after each series win because that builds the memories of what you work for. I think I’ve only ever worn the original because of that Australian mentality of how special it is. They only get given one Baggy Green and it’s their pride and joy so I’ve always seen my first one as a special thing to have. And I’ve never washed it either. That’s forbidden. Laundry once washed Steven Finn’s in a hotel somewhere and he was not a happy man.
IT WAS SILVER SERVICE
STRAUSSY presented me with an engraved silver cap too so I think I’ll get my girlfriend Bealey to take that home when she goes back after this Test because I don’t want to carry that around India for six weeks!
Straussy said some nice words and talked about how dedicated you have to be to play this amount of games as a bowler and the commitment you have to make. It was nice.
Bea, my step-dad Nick and Bea’s uncle have been here to see this match but my mum’s a teacher, my dad is match referee of the Zimbabwe series and my sister is in New Zealand, so they couldn’t get here.
It’s been great for Bea to experience Rajkot, too. She’s done Barbados, Cape Town and Sydney so this gives her a chance to experience somewhere with a different culture.
I’ve had some lovely messages of congratulations but I haven’t been able to reply to all of them yet because the wifi here is a bit hit and miss. I will be getting back to everyone.
It’s great too to have Jimmy Anderson here because we have been through a lot together. Jimmy has bought me a lovely bottle of red from 2007, the year I made my debut, to mark the occasion. It’s Australian, of course, so we can toast our Ashes wins. BACK TO THE BEGINNING I THINK it’s fair to say my debut in Colombo and my 100th Test in Rajkot have been played on two of the flattest pitches I’ve ever bowled on. I think I seamed one ball in the whole of the Indian first innings!
But we are delighted with how we’ve started here. Yes, India got a big score but I don’t think any team in the world would have been bowled out for under 400 in the first innings here.
There has been a bit of pressure on our spinners but you couldn’t have asked for more from them. They have talked a lot to Saqlain Mushtaq and knew their plans and bowled really nicely. They have not looked out of place compared with the Indian spinners and that’s a fantastic effort.
As for me, one for 70-odd is not going to please me but the seamer’s job here is to dry up an end and if you do get it reversing look to strike. But the pitch was a bit too slow for that.
I’d never tell the opening batsmen this, but I do understand dropped catches at nine down as it’s a time where their focus naturally switches to batting, and they certainly prepared well last night!
If we can cause any more damage to the Indian batting today that will be a good box ticked.
LANCASHIRE HOT-SHOT
JIMMY said to me 18 months ago ‘We’ve got a lad at Lancashire who looks a really good player.’ I played against Haseeb Hameed twice last summer for Notts and he was the best opening batsman I’d bowled at all year. He is calm, he knows his game-plan and he scores all round the wicket.
He’s still got to grow into his body a bit because he’s a young looking 19-year-old but he looks a real find for English cricket. That was only his second-ever first-class six and he’s just been telling us that his only other one was a top-edged hook! Hameed and Alastair Cook could become a very profitable opening partnership.
Trevor Bayliss said to us before our second innings: ‘Let’s go and score some runs now. We’re not just out there to survive. Let’s play positively and take the attack to the Indian bowlers,’ and I think the pair of them did that very impressively. We’re 650 for 10 in this Test at the moment and that’s the stuff dreams are made of.
CAN THERE BE A FINAL TWIST?
WE FEEL, going into the final day, that we could get ourselves into a position where we might have a chance of victory. If we can score at a rate where we can bat India out of the game then we could put pressure on them for three or four hours. Hopefully people waking up and reading this will find us pushing for that win. You never know if we can get 40 or 50 overs at them.