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WOW! What a week that was. A helter skelter ride of some proportions and all of it on the back of me licking my wounds after an uneventful, to say the least, two days at the Cheltenham Festival as a guest of the bookmakers Sporting Index, who have a hospitality box near the winning line.

Everybody pops in, from owners, trainers, racing experts, betting pundits et al. They all have a view and an ear to the ground as to where the clever money is. I have listened intently now for three years and, suffice to say, I have not as yet relieved the bookies of any 'mullah'...

Cheltenham was a pleasant distraction from the dilemma of what to do with my life for the next few years. It has been well documented that my contract with the England Cricket Board expires at the end of the coming cricket season and from my point of view, as coach, I felt that I wanted a clear picture of where I was going in the next three years.

Speculation was rife in the media of 'will he or won't he', which would clearly impact on the team the longer that situation went on. As for putting the record straight, you will have to take my word for it as to the sequence of events and outcome of the meetings.

Originally, I had in place a rolling contract, which gave me some security in a job that is acknowledged as demanding, volatile and precarious. This later became contrary to company policy, and in its place I would have regular meetings with Lord MacLaurin, the chairman of the ECB, on a state-of-the-nation and how-are-things-going basis.

We were entirely consistent and regular with these meetings and shared our thoughts as to where we were at that time. Ian was at all times supportive and encouraging, while we obviously talked about the pluses and minuses of our campaigns. Our recent meeting would obviously be different in that the contract was coming to an end.

We met in Ian's office in the City along with Simon Pack, the international teams director. We chatted about issues relevant to the team before we came round to my position. I was asked what would I like to do, to which I replied that I would like to carry on. I asked whether the board would be looking to renew my contract after August 1999.

I pointed out that I was 52 years old and, at my time of life, would like my immediate future to be settled now and I did not want to be in a position after the World Cup to be potentially out of work in around six or seven weeks time, especially after foregoing the security of a rolling contract.

In effect, if I was to stay with the team as coach, fine, if not I would be working out my notice and would be in the market place for jobs in my field, which is purely cricket. I have known nothing else all my life.

Ian explained the board's position and emphasised the importance of the World Cup in the broader sense of the game in England as a whole and that the board were not in a position at this time to extend the contract.

We fully understood each other's position, and it was therefore up to me to say that, with the board's agreement, I would leave after the World Cup. From my perspective I now had the breathing space to be on the look-out for alternative employment. In short, we all knew where we were going; the team, and that includes management and coaching, could get on with the job of preparing for the World Cup without distraction.

Of course, there will be speculation as to who will take over, but that speculation will be away from me and the team and, if I was required to, I would be in a position to hand over the team to the new coach.

It all sounds thoroughly sensible to me, with the bottom line that the most important people in all this, the players, get on with the job. After that very amicable meeting things really did move on apace - back to Lord's to prepare the press release and arrange for a press conference at Old Trafford.

The statement hit the wires at about 5pm on Tuesday evening of this week. On the following Wednesday morning at 8.45am John Gayleard rang me not to offer me a job but to tell me: ``You are now on our team.'' John is the executive producer of cricket on Sky Sports, and is nicknamed Animal. In my experience he is not a man to mess with.

We chatted for all of three minutes and I agreed to be part of the Sky Sports cricket commentary team for the next three years at home and abroad.

So there we are, I have tried to tell it how it is. I have had lots of questions about being ``disappointed'' and ``let down''. That is not for now. I know that the board and I are comfortable with the outcome and the only thing that matters now is for us to prepare well for what should be a tremendous celebration of cricket, the World Cup.

I can promise you that Alec Stewart and the boys will give it their very best shot. We will not be favourites but will have as good a chance as anybody. One-day cricket is very much an on-the-day situation.

To all the lads with whom I have been associated and who have represented their country over the past few years, you have been terrific to work with and I can assure you that the pleasure has been all mine.

To the public, thanks for your support. I know you feel the ups and downs as much as we do. We are all striving for success and it will come. To all the press and media, we have had some good jousts.

Cheltenham may have been unproductive and I am still prodding my peas around the dinner plate thinking of horses such as Deano's Beano, Teeton Mill and Go Ballistic. I will get over it, and my best medicine will be for us - England - to win the World Cup final. Nice.