I can’t wait to pull on shirt again

I’ve loved spending time back at Notts and I look forward to the Lord’s final … but South Africa Tests are the real deal

I‘VE absolutely loved spending the first part of the summer with my county Nottinghamshire and I have managed to get myself into a really good place physically and mentally. We have played some tough competitive cricket and I’ve felt in good rhythm with both white and red balls.

All bets are off as a bowler now in white-ball cricket because no one knows what is defendable anymore and that is making for some pretty astonishing chases which not so long ago would have been completely unthinkable.

Just look at the way we chased down a target of 370 to win t he game against Essex on Friday night at Chelmsford to make our way into the Royal London final at Lord’s in a couple of weeks’ time.

Not so long ago a chase like that would have been out of the question but across all levels of the sport, from county to international level, batsmen are thinking‘ anything is possible now’. It makes life pretty tough as a bowler but it’s brilliant to watch and can only bring the crowds flocking to our sport. I was gutted for the England boys that they went out of the Champions Trophy at the semifinal stage because going into that game against Pakistan they were the form team of the tournament. I felt they were going to go on to win the whole thing but they came up s hort against an inspired Pakistan team who outplayed us on the day on what was a pretty sub-continental type of pitch at Cardiff. I have

But Morgan will bounce back no doubt this England side will come back very strongly under Eoin Morgan because the strides they have made over the past couple of years have been absolutely massive in that area.

One bad performance does not suddenly make them a bad side and any team with the quality of players l i ke Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Morgan will challenge the very best teams in the world.

The boys will be devastated at not winning a major trophy on home soil but the next World Cup is not far away and this England team will have got people sitting up and taking note over the past 18 months or so. They are sure to be one of the favourites going into that.

People have asked me if I’d like to get back into the whiteball team and the answer is ‘absolutely’.

As a proud Englishman I am desperate to pull on an England shirt at every opportunity and at

30 years old I feel I still have a lot left to offer at the highest level. I’m fit and learning new things all the time and I really feel my spell with the Hobart Hurricanes saw my game come on l eaps and bounds.

I still feel I could do a good job in white-ball cricket and Trevor Bayliss knows I’m champing at the bit if the call comes.

I fully expect England to bounce back from last week’s disappointment in style in the Twenty20s against South Africa this week.

I’ll be playing for Notts in our County Championship game with my old county Leicestershire getting ready for the forthcoming Test series against South Africa, which starts on July 6 at Lord’s.

I’ve got two County Championship games and a Lord’s final before that Test which feels like perfect preparation for what is always a fiercely contested series against the Proteas.

The last time they were here we didn’t really do ourselves justice in a 2-0 series defeat and we’re determined to get our Test performances right back to where we know they can be ahead of the Ashes this winter.

It feels like the business part of the summer is approaching now and I can’t wait to pull that England shirt on again after loving every minute with Notts.