England v The West Indies: The Lord's Test, Day 1

There's something magical about the first Test of the international summer in England. It might be the muffled applause of the gloved hands, echoing around a three quarters full stadium. It might be the fact that champagne bottles adorn the boundary as those adorned in red and yellow stripes decide that 11 in the morning is a superb time to crack out the alcohol. It may just be that long suffering England fans are finally able to watch international cricket in their own time zone. Anyway, Test cricket's back and it's at Lord's.

Who would be England's third seamer? Well, after a comment from Mike Atherton about Strauss being "long in the tooth", it was revealed that Tim Bresnan had made the cut. Yorkshire's Jonny Bairstow was to make his Test debut and was presented with his cap by close family friend, Geoffrey Boycott. For the West Indies, Ravi Rampaul had a stiff neck so it handed a Test debut to Trinidad quick (I'm just going from reports here. I didn't quite reach West Indian domestic cricket in my winter exploits) Shannon Gabriel.

Still, cricket's back, rubber ducks are back and awful puns may or may not be back. Here's day 1 from Lord's:

The Galle Test: Sri Lanka v England, Day 1

After a disastrous tour of the United Arab Emirates, next up for England was a trip to one of the toughest places to tour, Sri Lanka. England will return in September for the Twenty20 World Cup, but for now, in the heat and humidity of Galle, Sri Lanka and England play one of those annoying two Test series.

England, still number one after the Middle East humiliation thanks to the weather of New Zealand, include three spinners in their line up, handing a Test debut to Samit Patel at the expense of Eoin Morgan. Sri Lanka have Mahela Jayawardene back at the helm and after having played so much limited overs cricket for the past three months, it'll be interesting to see how their players adapt back to the longer format.

In the scenic ground of the Galle International Stadium ("expertly recreated" in my back garden), the scene of England's horrendous 81 all out back in 2007. By mentioning that, I've probably tempted some horrific fate for when England bat, but that's a matter for a different day. Here's day one in Galle, in the format that made a delivery man look weirdly at me as he appeared in my back garden.

England v India: Edgbaston Test, Day 4

I have nothing that'll be grammatical correct or even considered a word to say right now as an introduction because that is how happy I am, so here's what happened on a historic day 4 at Edgbaston:

After a maiden first up from Swann, it's Anderson with the ball from the other end. And he strikes immediately. 

Gambhir has a prod at a lovely delivery and it goes straight to Swann at second slip.

India are reduced to 35-2 and once again, India are reliant on Dravid and Tenduckar.

Even though he's only in his second over of the day, Anderson is bowling some absolute beauties. Dravid, having nipped off the field after the previous over, returns. 

But a couple of balls later, he's sent back to the pavilion after seemingly edging Jimmy behind. 

England appeal, and Simon Tailfeather has no problem in giving Dravid out.

England celebrate, but Dravid hesitates and asks Sachin whether or not he should review. There is a definite noise, and Dravid seems to accept the decision and walks off.

But Hotspot shows no edge and Snicko later reveals that that's because there was no edge. Instead, Dravid has gone because he hit his shoelace. It's strange that Dravid decided not to review it, considering that Hotspot didn't show up Quaxman's edge in the previous Test, but it means that India are 40-3 and facing an Anderson who's on a roll.

Whilst everyone else is struggling with Jimmy, Tenduckar takes advantage of a poorer ball from Anderson...

And guides it through the on side for a boundary. 

Quaxman is next to go. He receives another lovely delivery from Anderson and all he can do with it is hang his bat outside off...

And edge it behind to Prior. Anderson has all four Indian wickets and India are 56-4.

The man for a crisis, Suresh Raina, comes in. 

After being dropped by Strauss, Raina decides to come down the pitch and hit one over the top.

And it goes to the boundary for a four.

Unlike Gambhir the previous day, Raina succumbs to Swann and Seaduck Davis. He is struck pad first...

England appeal, and Raina is gone. 

Raina wants to review the decision, but due to his board's reluctance to use the UDRS for LBW decisions, it means he cannot.

Raina must go and India are 87-5. 

And soon it gets a whole lot worse for India. Dhoni plays one back down the pitch towards Swann...

Who gets a wing on it...

And it hits the stumps. Tenduckar is backing up...

And England appeal. Seaduck Davis goes upstairs. 

And the replays show that Tenduckar didn't get his bat back in time. It is a horrible way to go, but he must and India are 89-6.

Bopara is the only England player who seems disappointed by Tenduckar's wicket, but he has to go for 40. His search for his 100th 100 continues. At lunch, India reach 116-6 and England are only 4 wickets away from reaching number one in the world.

And it's soon 3 wickets away from number one as Mishra doesn't hang around for very long.

He comes down the pitch and tries to loft a drive over cover...

But instead finds Stuart Broad taking a decent catch. 130-7.

It brings to the crease Praveen Kumar, who judging by most of his batting this series, won't hang around long.

He greets Swanny with a four...

The fielder thinks it's gone for 6, but replays show that it's gone for 4. In the long run, it's not that important.

But Kumar is not done. The next ball he smashes into the stands...

Where he ends up causing a spillage. 

The next ball, he does exactly the same thing...

Only no beer is lost this time. Kumar has ripped into Swann and he's not done yet. He has the record for quickest Test 50 within his reach!

But Broad spoils the party. He bowls a short ball to Kumar and all he can do is get a top edge...

High up in the air...

And straight to Bopara. 

Kumar goes for 40 off 18. What a guy. India are 205-8.

Dhoni is still in, which considering his form this series is somewhat of a surprise.

He flicks Anderson, who is desperately in search of a 5th wicket, to the boundary for a four.

And it brings up his 50.

But the end is nigh for India. Broad traps Sharma LBW for a duck.

It appears to have struck him outside off, but Seaduck Davis decides that like Matt Prior, he'd probably prefer to be playing golf and gives it out.

Like Raina, Sharma wants to review the decision, but can't.

So off he goes, leaving India 221-9 and England one wicket away from something that seemed a long, long way away two years ago in Jamaica. 

Bressy Lad takes the last wicket. Sreesanth gets one on the shoulder of the bat...

And can do nothing as it flies to KP in the gully. India are 244 all out.

And the celebrations begin!

England win by an innings and 242 runs.

The delighted England team and the injured Jonathan Trott watch from the "Edgbaston" balcony as their captain and the duck of the match, Alastair Cook are interviewed.

It has been a remarkable performance by England, but questions continue to surround the Indian camp. Will they be able to avoid a 4-0 series defeat?

The ducks'll be back on Thursday. Until then, I'm going to enjoy England being (unofficially) number one in the world. Now it's just the case of staying there...