AT THE start of the Ashes, I thought England had a good chance of winning a close series 2-1. I certainly didn't expect them to have a shout of 4-1, as good a side as I think they are.

There was a lot of negative hype in the media beforehand – a combination of the Ashes whitewash a couple of winters ago, the one-day World Cup and how England didn't hit their straps in the West Indies. Overall, it probably got accentuated a bit.

There's some exciting players in that England team. It's new-look but there's a good balance with the experienced heads such as Anderson, Cook and Broad. They're a good side.

As much as everybody underestimated the English lads, I think the Aussies were overestimated too. There were a lot of Australian voices in the Press talking about how they were going to smash England and that maybe had an adverse impact.

When you look at the two ends of the spectrum, you've got our media looking at all the negatives of the England side and the Aussies doing the complete opposite. The build-up probably worked in our favour a bit.

Now, hopefully, England can build on their success when playing against Pakistan and South Africa this winter.

It will be tough for the players, being away from home for long periods. But from a cricket point of view, matches come thick and fast, which is ideal when you're in form.

It will be a true test of the team, both skill and character-wise, in completely different conditions. But it could be a great winter for English cricket.

A lot will depend on the pitches. If they're turning all over the shop in the UAE and England don't start well, it will be the same old comments 'England can't play spin', that sort of thing.

Hopefully England do well there ahead of the biggest test in South Africa.

On to Yorkshire matters, to beat Durham at Scarborough last weekend after the position we were in first innings was remarkable really.

We just keep getting people standing up when we need them to at the right time. Glen Maxwell and Adil Rashid did that and won the game for us.

If we win a couple more games, it doesn't matter how well the other teams do and we're county champions again.

As good a position as we're in though, we're not there yet. We've still got five games to go and all it takes is losing a couple of games, take your foot off the gas and all of a sudden, you're back in the mix.

We've just got to concentrate on playing some good cricket.

It's a boring product that's worked for us – one session at a time, one day at a time. Piece it together and you have a full picture.

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