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I’m taking it easy this week. It’s been a long 12 or 15 months of cricket for me. I’m just getting through it as best I can.
I can’t believe it’s July already. June was unbelievable. I think it was 14 out of 16 days we played. I’ve not had anything like that before in my career. In Australia we spread it out a bit differently there, but it’s what I signed up for so that’s what you do.
I think the cricket kept me going when I first got here. It can get tiring, especially when you’ve played for so long, but you go through those stages, they’re like waves. A couple of games off here and there is a massive help.
I’d love to play every game but it’s not wise, especially with ‘my’ summer coming up and hopefully any commitments I might have with Australia. You never know what might happen so you have just got to try and keep ticking along.
It’s good here. The guys have been great, making me feel at home. The family came over to join me a few months ago and they are going well too, the kids are enjoying nursery and that’s all you can ask for.
When I’m not playing I have got my kids, that takes up plenty of my free time, but I try to play a bit of golf as well and just relax and watch time go by.
We’re living up in Herne Bay by the beach. It’s been a nice change and feels a little bit closer to home as the kids can play out by the water and in the park. It’s not quite Bondi but I’ll take it.
It’s been a good season so far and I’ve had fun. There’s been a little bit of frustration, I’d like a few more wickets, that’s my game, but I feel like I’m bowling well.
I’ve got the stats to show it in T20 cricket and I feel like the four-day is going really well. Of course you always wish you could do more, but I am happy with where I am. I haven’t had any bad feedback from Kent at all – I hope that is good news.
I do get some from supporters though. People buy a ticket to a game and think they can say what they like to you or they can have four or five beers, and get into you and think they can say anything.
What makes me laugh is that they are grown men and women. I guess it comes with the territory, it’s not going to go away. I try and enjoy it and if I can I’ll give some back a bit. It’s all the same stuff – so it kind of gets a bit tiring after a while, you’ve just got to try and enjoy it.
T20 is good fun to play and the tension can be amazing and thrilling. I don’t think anything can beat getting 20 wickets and bowling a team out in a couple of days like we did to Derbyshire in the Championship though. For me nothing can beat playing a solid four-day game – look at how many teams win like that over the course of a Test or a four-day game... the satisfaction of winning like that is pretty good.
We’ve had a couple of last-ball dramas in the T20 lately but that’s why we love and hate the game – that’s the way cricket is. You wish you could win all the one per cent games but we didn’t and it’s just the way it is.
We’ll see how we go coming into the back end of the season and how we can finish in both competitions.
Everything is pretty close in the T20 group and a couple of wins here and there could make all the difference. Keysey said to me at training on Monday too that another win up at Leicester in the Championship and the table will start to look different too.
We’ve just got to win as much as we can, the old cliche of one at a time. It’s not as hectic for the next month and that can be a good thing for us.