IT HAS been an enjoyable few days at Scarborough, scoring a century myself and watching Andrew Gale score a big century – the only thing missing was a win!

It was good to get a hundred and for the team to put in a good performance on a pretty flat deck, particularly as I didn’t feel great over the few days after getting a bug, which took quite a lot out of me.

Funnily enough, I didn’t feel quite as bad when I was out in the middle batting with Galey. It didn’t seem to affect me as much because when you’re out there the adrenalin keeps you going and you don’t really think about it. The key was to try to get it out of my mind, forget about it and just try to play on adrenalin, and that seemed to work out quite well.

To put on 297 with Galey was one of the most enjoyable partnerships of my career. Adil Rashid and I put on a few at Somerset recently, but this was definitely the biggest of my career and it’s just a shame we didn’t get it past 300.

Galey kept talking about it and trying to achieve that, so it was disappointing I got out just before that milestone.

When you bat with someone for a long time, the partnership gets easier the longer you bat. Batting with the same person for four or five hours helps you get an understanding of the wicket, the bowlers and how to run together.

In that sense it did get easier, but Notts never let up.

They kept coming at us and bowled well for the whole partnership, so it was very hard work. We had to concentrate hard and he kept me going and I kept him going.

It was great to be out there when Galey reached his century. We all thought he was going to get the big one last week at Somerset when he got out for 75, but we know how determined he is and I think once he got to 60 or 70 he was always going to go very big and to get 272 is incredible. The team were right behind him, willing him on to his century. He’s a strong character and everyone respects and looks up to him. It was a great innings and everyone was delighted for him.

This week we travel to Lord’s to face Middlesex, which will be a special experience for most of us. I played two school games at Lord’s when I was at Harrow and got a hundred in one of them, and I played a one-day game a few years ago when we beat Middlesex, so I’ve been there a few times before.

It’s going to be a good game and one that everyone is looking forward to, particularly as it will be my maiden first-class game there.