Well another week has flown by, one that many in the club will never forget.

This week was pretty quiet with only two scheduled one-day matches, one at Lord's and the other in Manchester.

After a heavy couple of weeks it was decided I should miss the midweek game against Australia as my groin, which has given me trouble in the past, was a little tender after the last game at Southgate.

As it turned out I wasn't missed with the boys turning in a great performance, thumping the Aussies by five wickets. A fantastic achievement considering Angus Fraser and Phil Tufnell were also missing through injury leaving a very young side to face the world champions.

Australia's form since that defeat has been awesome with two strong performances against Pakistan and England.

The thing with the Aussies is they have very strong belief in their ability and also their team-mates' abilities which enables them to play positively even when in trouble. This is one thing the England team must prepare for in the upcoming Ashes series. It is brewing as one of the more competitive Ashes, but England must believe they can do it if they want to upset the green and golds.

I look back to the last series we played against Australia, there were times during each Test where we had the advantage but we just didn't have the belief to push on. We meet the Aussies at the end of this year and then England in February-March next year, so I too will be watching this Test series with a great deal of interest.

Something else I find interesting is the age of players, firstly in the county scene but also some of the members of the international teams that are over here at present.

In New Zealand we don't have many players in the game over the age of 30, but looking through the team sheets of our opposition there are many players over the age of 35.

The main reason players play longer is money. In New Zealand we just don't have the financial resources to keep players in the game. It's fine when you're young but, when other commitments enter your life, you have to make the choice and in most cases cricket just won't cut it. New Zealand Cricket have identified this, but that's the easy part, finding finances to help the province's is understandably not easy.

We need experienced players to stay in the game. With their input, younger players will learn quicker and, in most cases, the consistency and quality of cricket will be higher.

The flip side is players staying in the game for too long, keeping a younger player out and ending up playing the game for the wrong reasons. That's not going to be a problem for the New Zealand team for a number of years, with the average age of the side being 26. It all bodes well for the future.

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