IT has been a strange few weeks for me, having been 12th man for the two home Championship wins against Hampshire and Notts where we played the extra spinner.

Those games saw some fantastic cricket from the lads and different people stood up at different times to contribute to the victories.

But for me personally, having been out of the team I felt a tad out of rhythm and needed to be up to match intensity.

That was an added pressure for me going into the Yorkshire game at Headingley, which was always going to have that extra edge for me against my former employers and some of my best friends.

I was definitely a bit nervous, which I need as it helps focus the mind and gets that spark I need to be at my best.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t at my best and as a team we took a while to get going. Yorkshire soaked up the pressure, got on top and thumped us.

It was a very disappointing result and we are no longer top but it doesn’t change what we need to do for the remainder of the Championship season.

We have four more games and we pretty much need to win them all.

One bad loss doesn’t make us a bad side, it just means we have to re-focus, get back to basic solid skills and be patient for longer with the ball if we play on flatter pitches.

As for England winning the World Cup - what drama!

It really was an unbelievable match with a few ridiculous scenarios like the six overthrows, the catch on the boundary rope, the tie, the super over and the tie in that.

Each is a rare event on its own but all together in the dying moments of a World Cup final created intense drama and it totally gripped everybody watching it, including us players watching in the changing rooms after close of play in our match.

When England won, everyone was jumping around, shouting and celebrating and you could see how much it meant to everyone.

At the end of the day, we are all England fans and, detached from being professional players, we all want England to do well. It was fantastic to watch them achieve their dreams under all that pressure.

Harsh as it was on New Zealand, you have to admire how well they took the result... imagine losing under those circumstances?

Kane Williamson, for me, is the most impressive captain and player in the world.

How he goes about his business and speaks about the game is a huge lesson for us all, not just in cricket or sport but life in general.

Don’t try and be anyone else, be the best you can be and be respectful. Easier said than done.