Greetings from Grenada, where we’ve had a couple of days to let the dust settle on everything that happened in the first Test in Antigua.
It was obviously a slight disappointment that we didn’t manage to get over the line and win the game. But to make all the running in the match, and take as many wickets as we did on that surface, was a pretty good effort, which gives us every reason to be positive for the rest of the series.
And for all of us, it was a privilege to be out on the field when Jimmy Anderson made history.
I’ll never forget the first time I came across Jimmy, early in the 2011 season.
I was 20, and fairly new in the Yorkshire first team. He was making a rare county appearance for Lancashire in a Roses Match in Liverpool, and let’s just say he was quite aggressive – he took me a bit by surprise, and on that initial evidence I wasn’t a massive fan.
So I consider myself really lucky to have got to know him properly with England.
He’s a massive part of this team, whether with his bowling on the field or behind the scenes in the dressing room.
He plays so hard on the field, as everybody knows, but one of the many things I admire him for is knowing how far to go, and not crossing the line.
It was emotional for all of us when he took the wicket that broke Sir Ian Botham’s record, especially seeing what it meant to him to have the people closest to him – his mum, dad, wife and kids – up in the stand, as everyone saw on the big screen.
We had a toast to him afterwards in the dressing room, and made sure it was a memorable evening for him. It was special for us all to be there with him, and to be able to enjoy it as a squad.
But obviously it wasn’t a night for wild celebrations, because we were all pretty tired, we had another Test around the corner – and because we hadn’t won the game.
Jimmy and the rest of the bowlers put so much effort into trying to find a way to take 20 wickets on that pitch. I even took a couple myself, and we did have to use our imagination, because it was so flat.
I gather a couple of the commentators at home were talking about me having a friendly chat with a couple of their batsmen, and I admit I did ask them a couple of questions.
It was only a case of encouraging them to be aggressive and go for their shots, perhaps playing on a couple of egos. It’s a shame not all of them responded to the challenge!
Fair credit to Jason Holder, who I first came across playing in the West Indies team who beat us in the quarter finals of the Under-19 World Cup.
He plays his cricket hard but he generally looks like he’s enjoying himself, which is what you want. He batted really well, and Ramdin and Roach also made it hard for us in those last couple of sessions.
It’s important to respond in the right way after something frustrating like that, and that has been the priority for the last couple of days. We’ve got to make sure we keep believing we can take 20 wickets, even if the pitches for the next two games are going to be along similar lines. That means building pressure by making massive scores.
In Antigua it was great to see Ian Bell and Gary Ballance bat as well as they did. We were under a bit of pressure at the start of each innings, and obviously it had been a while since we’d played a Test.
So for Belly in the first innings, and Gaz in the second, to be so on it from ball one was great to watch. I had the best view on the ground, sharing a decent partnership with each of them. I felt really good at the crease and tried to play positively.
It wasn’t easy when you first went in because the pitch was so slow, which is why I was so annoyed with myself when I was out.
I was worried that I’d opened the door for them a little bit, but fortunately on each occasion Ben Stokes came out and shut it – and that was great to see as well, in his first Test innings for quite a while, batting up at number six in the order.
There were so many good things to come from the game – how about those slip catches by Chris Jordan?
But the serious point is that in Test cricket you’ve got to be stubborn, and ruthless. On pitches like this, it’s going to come down to who wants it more. We are determined that’s going to be us.