IT'S quite sad to see what is happening with the West Indies at the minute in terms of the quality of team they are fielding against England.

It's pretty much their second or third team with all the best players not involved. I can't blame those players. The money is elsewhere and you've got to provide for yourself and your family.

But even so, there is still plenty for England to get out of the remainder of the series heading into the winter and their Ashes tour to Australia. That starts with the second Test at Headingley today.

England have just had a good series against South Africa and winning is definitely a habit. Being confident and on a high is just as important as hard cricket. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world that they are not being fully tested.

Then there are the places up for grabs in that batting order. Spare a thought for Keaton Jennings, who is a good player but came into these summer Tests out of form. I'm sure he'll be back in the near future.

But Mark Stoneman definitely deserves his opportunity, having performed well over the last few years. Dawid Malan played well in the last Test and has got first crack at it.

There's also Gary Ballance, who was churning them out in the Championship and then got injured at the wrong time. There are some other good young players who could have a good end to the season with their counties. Then you never know.

Going back to Stoneman, who debuted at Edgbaston, he is a very good player, he knows his game inside out and is at the right age. He also hits good balls for four, which is what all the best players do.

He's attacking and I think he'll be good in Australian conditions. He's good square of the wicket and off the back foot, which is ideal, given there's 90mph bowling everywhere over there.

What a knock that was from Adam Lyth in the T20s the other night to get us up to 260 against Northants, although it was disappointing we couldn't secure qualification on the back of it.

Hampshire got 250 against Derbyshire the other night and I am pretty sure we will see the world record being broken with a 270 score.

We could maybe even see 300 at some point, but I don't see 250-plus becoming the norm in T20. I do see 200 being par, though.

Although it's a batsman's game, with them hitting sixes and fours far more consistently, bowlers will adapt and still have their place.

There might be the odd rule change which helps them but quality bowlers will still get wickets. You only have to look at Azeem Rafiq getting five and Tim Bresnan six. Adil Rashid has also been brilliant for us this year.

I was able to score a double hundred for the seconds in our three-day game against Durham up at the Riverside last week – but it was a touch bittersweet, if I'm honest.

Every time I've gone back to the seconds, it's just confirmation that I'm hitting it nicely. Then, when it comes to the first team, I'm just getting out in every which way possible. I can't seem to get started.

I've scored runs consistently outside of first-team cricket, even going back to New Zealand in the winter or for Lightcliffe.

I've been playing for three or four years now, so I know I can do it – I've scored hundreds in the past, 1,000 runs last year. It's just that I'm getting out to the new ball.

I'm not shying away from the fight. I love it. Yes, it has been tough this year, but I still believe that all I have to do is get through 20 overs and I'll be away.

Mohammad Amir bowled really well for Essex in our last Championship game at Scarborough.

There were a few unfortunate decisions, which put you on the back foot straight away. Add in a couple of good balls and you're stuffed.

I was certainly looking forward to facing him for a good period of time but he was superb and too good for us at the end of the day.

We have been practising this week, which has involved an intra-squad game at York ahead of our return to second-team cricket next week and then first-team cricket the week after.

We have a few days off until early next week and that's really important ahead of September, which will be a tough month but very exciting at the same time.