As always, following England is never dull – I wasn’t near any way of hearing the result against Holland so when I heard we lost I thought someone was having a laugh, I mean we can’t lose to them can we?!! But alas it was true and probably luckily for me I’ve still not seen how it happend.

I did see Sunday’s game against Pakistan though, and like I predicted to some friends before, they came out hurting after the shock two days previous to show what they really can do as a team. It was pleasing that everyone contributed to the win, although Ravi Bop didn’t have the greatest game he went to a good catch and Eoin Morgan was a good sub fielder – maybe Shah can go off injured every game when we’re fielding…. and Rashid is exciting to watch – a proper leg spinner, English and young, don’t put too much pressure on him too soon and he’ll be a real good one in a few years.

So we’re through to the next round when we won’t take anyone too lightly hopefully. KP admitting he isn’t fully fit is a bit of a worry with the Ashes but he strikes me as the sort of player who just wants to be there playing so let him manage his injury and I’m sure he’ll be key for us as we expect this summer.

Also, a quick line if you fancy supporting your team – Kitbag have some ODI, test and Twenty20 shirts and training kit available from their site here. I bought the Adidas traning fleece earlier in the year and I love it – the Adidas stuff seems really good quality and I can see myself buying more in the not too distant future!

We’ve had a successful ODI series against the West Indies, and now we can move onto the first really big event of the summer – the Twenty20 World Cup. I’ve enjoyed watching bits of some of the warm up games without really taking too much notice of the results yet, as some players have been rested and the intensity isn’t there compared to the actual competition.

Once the competition gets up and running however, it should be good viewing. Daily updates during competitions aren’t really my thing on this blog, but I know some people are after this, and I’ve been in touch with a team running a new blog at WorldTwenty20Cricket.co.uk – check this site out as it should offer you what you want in terms of news, reaction etc.

There will be a lot of interest surrounding this tournament once it gets underway with it being held in this country, and with two games played on one ground in a day there is plenty of action to keep the supporters happy. If you’re looking for a ticket to any of the games then World Twenty20 Cricket will help you in the right direction as well as they have included links to one of the ticket exchange sites. Give the site a go and keep in touch with the Twenty20 World Cup.

Who do I think will win? India won it last time and when you look at their side they just seem to have the match winners in it. Australia will push them whilst England have warmed up well but in my mind don’t have that killer instinct yet. Go on boys – prove me wrong!!

We’ve had the standard county championship game start this month, and now it is time to mention the next fantasy game the telegraph have on the horizon – the fantasy Twenty20 World Cup game!

It costs four quid to enter a team, which you can do at http://fantasycricket.telegraph.co.uk with a top prize of £5k and another £5k in other prizes, the tournament starts on the 5th June so you want to have entered by then. Although I didn’t enter a county championship team in the end, this game will probably entice me to play since I only have to keep in touch with it for a few weeks rather than a whole season.

I havn’t looked at any of the player lists yet, so let me know who you think will be the standout players in the tournament in the comments below to help me pick my team!

A comprehensive test series win over the West Indies sets us up nicely for the rest of the summer, although I think its safe to say that we won’t get too ahead of ourselves. We showed that we lost the dull series in the Caribbean earlier in the year mainly due to the pitches out there which offered absolutely nothing and that we are in fact a much better test match side than Chris Gayle’s men.

49 or so days until the first Ashes test which will be the real test of the summer, and hopefully we’ll have some good weather and media buzz around it. We still have an ODI series and Twenty20 World Cup before then, which will give players like Bopara the opportunity to continue his good form, but aside from Flintoff’s recovery I reckon our test match side is probably sorted for the first test at the Swalec Stadium on July 8th (hopefullly Prior’s fingers will be ok after Collingwood had to take the gloves in the last test!)

The Aussie squad has been announced to some discontent down under – I’ll reflect on that in another post in the next week or so!

Lords last week showed a promising start for the slightly new-look England side, defeating the West Indies within 3 days with a strong performance. Yes, it was a shame for all those that had tickets for a Saturday but we often have Wednesday starts these days with all the international cricket that need to be fitted in so I’m not bothered (especially as I saw the best day live!).

There were good performances in particular with the bat from Ravi Bop and Swann, whilst Swann also performed with the ball, as did newcomer, Graham Onions. I was questioning who might be our final bowler the other week and Onions has made it difficult for anyone else to jump in there by showing some good pace and getting the all important wickets. Bresnan didn’t really have a chance in the whole test, which makes you wonder the wisdom of a five man attack when Freddie isn’t around. That’s probably why they’ve bought Bell back into the squad for the next test, it gives them the option of using four bowlers then if they need them, Ravi and Colly can turn their arm over. It’s probably the way I’d go without a standout replacement out there.

The other thing the early finish to the match gave us was Sky Sports re-showing the 2005 Ashes series highlights, brilliant viewing for any England fan and the thing that came across most was that Shane Warne was by far and away the most threatening players the Aussies had back then, even with the likes of McGrath and Lee in the side. Now, with no decent spinner to talk of, I’m feeling more confident that we can do a number on them and claim back those Ashes this summer. Foolhardy thinking maybe but I’m going with it for the moment!!

On Thursday in two weeks time I’ll be sitting on the Mound Stand at Lord’s watching my first live England test match. I can’t really believe I’ve never been to a test match, but living in sleepy Dorset it’s never proved that easy to get to a test match ground without missing work/cricket/a hangover etc. Still, all that will change as I grace St John’s Wood with my presence to watch us play the West Indies in what should be infinitely more interesting that the dross that was served up in recent months in the Caribbean.

The squad and team selection will be interesting – with the warm up to the Ashes now well and truly on, who do the selectors fancy as those who should be facing Australia, as they will be looking to firm up the selection in this series against Chris Gayle and co. There are some certainties for the team in Strauss, Cook, KP, Collingwood, Freddie, Prior, Broad and Anderson. Swann has shown more than enough for me to stay in the squad as the only spinner, which leaves question marks on the number 3 and another seamer.

Ian Bell has started the county season well which is all very nice for him, but is he really any different to the player that was dropped for consistent failure in the test side? Give him more time in county cricket for me, if his scores are too good in a months time then look at it again, but he has to prove somehow that he deserves another shot at it. Shah was the man in possesion in the West Indies, but he didn’t exactly set the world alight. I rate him as a batsman, but I’m not sure this is the summer for him to cement his position in that spot. Vaughan hasn’t played international cricket since he resigned the captaincy last summer, but I can’t help but think he could be the man for the Ashes. He is a class batsman whichever way you look at it, he knows how to beat the Aussies and could score a hatful of runs. And for those reason, I’m putting my name on Vaughan for the number 3 spot in the team. Get him in for the early test matches to get him back used to international cricket before the main part of the summer, despite how many (or few) runs he scores in county cricket.

The bowling spot is a tricky one without a stand out candidate to my mind. Harmison was so hot and cold over the winter, and is not on the top of his game which is where you need to be against the Aussies. Sidebottom was woefully down on pace as well and seemed to have lost everything that made him a success on his return back into the test side a couple of years ago. The only other bowlers in the ECB performance squad from which they will probably pick are Amjad Khan and Saj Mahmood…. so like I said, no stand out candidate…

Not that I’ve nailed down exactly my squad or team, does anyone out there reckon I’ve got this horribly wrong? Let me know in the comments below!