Wednesday 17 August 2016 09:21, UK
Jonny Bairstow talks of England's disappointment at a drawn series, stays "chilled" with Moeen Ali, and looks ahead to NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day with "Ellen DeGeneres"...
We will look back on this series with a bit of disappointment, having been 2-1 up and with a chance to win the series.
But we will take the blow and move on from it. As the captain said the other day, it's a bit of a wake-up call if you like, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
There was talk about us going to No1 before The Oval, but there is now a realisation that though we're doing well, there is still a lot of improvement to be made. That's exciting; to have people even talking about us being No1 given that there is still so much more to come from us as a side.
I'm now shifting my focus to Yorkshire and the ODI series against Pakistan. I play in Yorkshire's Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-final against Kent (live on Sky Sports 2, 10.55am) on Thursday, and then NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day on Saturday.
I'm really looking forward to it. I was involved in the last one Yorkshire got to, in Cardiff in 2012, but unfortunately we lost out to Hampshire in the final. It's a great spectacle to be involved in, the atmosphere is electric.
Joe Root - or Ellen DeGeneres, as the stump mics may have picked up me calling him when bowling at The Oval - will also be joining up with the Vikings for finals day. Hopefully we'll be able to go one better this time.
We've got tough opponents first up though, with Durham in the semi-final. They're quality opposition, with a few familiar faces in Ben Stokes, Mark Wood and Paul Collingwood.
I'm pleased with the way that things are going in my game right now. I'm aware that I'm on 992 Test runs for the year so far and in with a chance of breaking the record for the most by a wicketkeeper in a calendar year.
It's something that would be very special for me if that opportunity were to arise, but at the same time, if it doesn't - due to selection, injury, whatever - then so be it.
It was great to score a few more at The Oval, getting to spend some time in the middle with Moeen again. He scored a great hundred; he is such a quality player.
Batting with Mo is always very enjoyable; we have a bit of craic out in the middle. I posted a picture of me and him on my Instagram after the game with the caption, "just stay chilled, bro". It's just a bit of laugh, but perfect for Mo as he's a pretty chilled out bloke.
For people to have talked about him being dropped halfway through the series was outrageous. All right, he had a little blip at Lord's, but that's the nature of cricket, and he has shown his quality yet again in the rest of the series.
What a series for Chris Woakes, too! He broke the record for the highest amount of wickets in a series for England against Pakistan with 26, and provided fantastic contributions with the bat all the way through.
Woakesy is in a good place at the moment, looking strong, bowling fast! To keep to though, it's not too nice. Plus he tends to wobble it, which I don't like too much either.
It was Cricket United Day during The Oval Test, and I'm delighted to hear my drawing of Ryan Sidebottom has been auctioned off for £350. That's a great effort from whoever donated as it's going to a great cause with Cricket United splitting the money between three charities.
Ryan took it all in good spirit, he's a good friend of mine and I'm godfather to his little boy, Darley. I dread to think the outcome though if he was to put pen to paper and get his own back.
A few of the lads also had eyes on the start of the Premier League season during the Test, but generally we were concentrating on the job at hand which unfortunately we weren't able to pull off.
Mark Ramprakash is a massive Arsenal fan - they started well, didn't they? Not. Mo is a big Liverpool fan, and so was loving it.
I'm not much of a football fan myself, I'm more interested in the Olympic hockey at the minute. I mentioned my friends, Alastair Brogdon and Samantha Quek, competing in my last column.
Sadly, Richard and the GB men's team missed out on the knockout rounds, but Samantha and the women have a great chance to medal having booked a semi-final spot against New Zealand on Wednesday.
I'll be watching, I can't wait! When they came under the pump against Argentina the other night, I tweeted about it - their defensive structure was amazing, and they will have gained a lot of confidence from an unbeaten run through to the semis.
They could well add to Team GB's recent gold rush - we'll go top of the medal table with 11 medals for them all… Perfect! Not sure that's quite how it works though, sadly.
