Resigning was a blessing for Cooky, he’s now playing without a care in the world

ISAW Alastair Cook’s return to form at first hand when he scored a brilliant hundred in what thankfully turned out to be a losing cause for Essex against my county Nottinghamshire a couple of weeks ago.

I know how difficult he found the last few months in charge of the England team and how long and hard he thought about resigning the captaincy, and it’s fantastic to see him taking division one attacks to the cleaners.

My only hope is that he hasn’t used up all his runs helping Essex win the championship! We all know what a quality performer Cooky is at Test level and it’s clear that standing down as captain could give him a new lease of life. He looks like he’s playing without a care in the world and that can only be a good thing for England cricket fans.

He may have scored more than 11,000 runs in 140 Tests but he’s only 32 and still as fit as a fiddle so I can’t see any reason why Cooky can’t go on to score thousands more runs in the years to come. So much of professional sport is played in the head and if he feels mentally in a good place, he is a dangerous proposition for any opponent.

With Joe Root about to play his first Test as captain after one of the longest waits ever for an England captain after being unveiled, he’ll be delighted to see Cooky back to his best.

It’s a really exciting time for everyone involved with England, no-one more so than Joe. The good thing for him is that he’s going to be surrounded by a group of very experienced players to bounce ideas off if he feels the need, while there’s also an exciting new breed of players coming through.

Personally, I’m delighted that the fat pad injury I aggravated last week does not look like it’s going to stop me playing in the first Test of the summer. I had a sick, nervous feeling all of last week after a scan diagnosed a 1cm tear at the side of my left foot and I can’t thank the physios at Notts and England enough for the work they’ve done to get me fit.

Playing at Lord’s yesterday — where we beat Surrey to win the Royal London One-Day Cup — was a big test and it was pleasing that I came through unscathed. It’s amazing what can be done if an injury is well strapped, and the physios came up with an ingenious new way of strapping my foot which effectively closed up the tear and enabled me to bowl relatively pain free.

It’s going to be a great series against South Africa who always provide a big challenge.

Batting wise, Hashim Amla remains one of the very best in the world. He has no obvious weaknesses and, as a bowler, your best hope is to get to bowl to him as early as possible in his innings. He’s got a proven track record in England and when he gets in, tends to go big.

But we’ve got a very strong attack and we’re confident going into the series. I can’t wait for the Tests to begin!