Bell watch : 1st ODI vs India

India 387-5, England 229ao... oh dear. Bell made 25 off 35 balls and took 2 catches. What positives can we take from this KP?

Bell watch : England crushed by Mumbai

Chasing 223 England made only 98, Bell contributing 6 of those precious runs. Back to the drawing board KP?

Bell watch - England vs Mumbai warmup

England's first match of their winter India tour is a 1 day warm-up game against Mumbai. Bell made a creditable 58 with a strike rate of 93.54 as England racked up 297-4 and ran out fairly easy winners over Mumbai. Freddie got 100, KP got 6.

HK 6s triumph for England

England, managed by Ashley Giles and including several Warwickshire players, have won the HK 6s. To make it even better Australia were the team England beat. The final went down to the last ball and was England's 5th win in the competition and now they take home £56,000. Darren Maddy is probably glad now England didn't pick him for the Stanford series!

Maddy, Trott and Gilo prepare for HK 6s

Darren Maddy and Jonathan Trott have flown out to play in the England side that will take part in the annual Hong Kong 6s which will be held over next weekend. Ashley Giles will be taking time out from his regal duties as King of Spain to be the team manager. The rest of the squad btw is Dimitri Mascarenhas, Tim Bresnan, Ed Joyce, Graham Napier and Graham Wagg (who is an ex-Bear of course).

I was in HK a few years ago just before the HK 6s was to be held, and it is quite a well promoted event there. Of course i had to return home just before the event started. I always seem to be the nearly man!

Neil Carter agrees 2 year deal

Neil Carter, fresh from the Stanford Super Series with Middlesex (where he did OK), has signed a new 2 year contract with Warwickshire which will take him up to nearly 10 years with the club (he has been with us since 2001). Carts had a good 2008 for the Bears with ball and bat (especially at times in the T20) so signing again was expected.

Carter will not be going to the Champions League with Middlesex however as only players who were with the club when they won the T20 are eligible.

Bell watch : England vs Stanford Superstars

Well i'm glad i couldn't see this after all! I had to go to London at the weekend and was cursing the fact i couldn't see the $20 million match, but in the end it seems to have been a blessing. Belly only made 7 but then again out of 99ao it wasn't that bad after all. So what went wrong? Couldn't they handle the pressure? Were their minds elsewhere? England had better get it sorted out fast, can you imagine Australia getting into such a muddle?