I DID something pretty unusual last Friday – I had a day at the Test match and absolutely loved it.

I think it's fair to say the whole five days were a roaring success for Yorkshire and showcased Headingley as a brilliant venue.

There was a group of us on the balcony chatting and we all said it will become a proper venue when you have the new stand at one end in 2019 and the Carnegie Pavilion at the other.

The plans for the new stand look brilliant and hopefully when we get that going we should have Test cricket there for a while. Even the Western Terrace was great. There's not many stands, if any, like it in England.

I think most people love it. The fancy dress and the beer that's drunk is unbelievable. The beer snake when I was there was massive! As long as it doesn't get out of hand and just stays fun, it's great.

Hopefully they'll get a beer snake going from one end of the Western Terrace to the other in the next few years. In fact, I am setting a challenge. I urge all supporters to get that done by the end of 2020.

The pitch was fantastic as well, pretty much perfect for Test cricket. When there's a bit of sunshine at Headingley, it makes things an even contest. There's always something in it for the bowlers.

I was watching day three on the TV, for example, and even then it was swinging late on with Jason Holder bowling well with an older ball, probably around 50 overs old.

The Test fell on a Bank Holiday weekend, which was a big help for the club. The atmosphere was great on Friday and sounds like it has been right through the match.

There's been a bit of moaning and groaning at recent AGMs about the scheduling of Tests at Headingley, how early they've been in a summer. But at the next AGM, I reckon one of the big pluses to come out will be that game.

I was saying on Friday that I don't often get the chance to go to a day of the Test wherever it is. But when you do, it just makes you think 'this is where I want to be and what I want to do'. It cements your dreams.

I reckon a Headingley debut in front of your home crowd or a Lord's debut would be unbelievable.

I don't want to sound like a commentator here but one thing that did frustrate me is that we had six and a half hours of cricket and they lost six overs.

It was ridiculously slow. I think there was only 50 overs bowled at tea. No-one gets from one end to the other, keepers saunter around – something really needs to be done about it.

My biggest aspiration is still to play Test cricket because that format is still king. The way I got into cricket was watching that 2005 Ashes series.

Don't get me wrong, having all these opportunities cropping up around the world in T20 is exciting, as has been shown with Adil Rashid signing up to the new South African league this winter. But you can't beat the ebb and flow of Test cricket.

More and more, I think it's going to become red-ball specialists and white-ball specialists.

With the Champions Trophy this summer and the World Cup here in 2019, England are giving it a really good go at the moment. The T20 comps around the world, including England in a couple of years, only add to that.

It wouldn't surprise me to see more and more players becoming self-employed. That wouldn't be great for county cricket, I must admit, so fingers crossed it doesn't go overboard and there's a nice balance between the two.

On Adil specifically, he deserves everything that comes to him because he's been invaluable for us in recent years.

A leg-spinner is the way to go in T20 all around the world. They have that mystery and, in Rash's case, that control. He's certainly turned into a world-class spinner over the time I've been involved with Yorkshire.

Unfortunately, I have missed out on a game for the seconds this week, but I did play for the Academy against Sheriff Hutton Bridge on Saturday when my brother and cousin were in their team. I didn't get either of them out but we won pretty comfortably.

It was nice to play at Bridge, a club I've always seen as home. Hopefully next year I'll be playing for them, which is something I'm really looking forward to.