In my opinion, it was the right decision to appoint Michael Atherton as England captain for the Second Test against Australia at Lord's. It's a one-off game in a hard series playing against a fantastic side, and he's got all the experience to cope with any and every situation that may arise. That's taking nothing away from anyone else who may have been in the frame. Athers has been there and experienced everything in Test cricket, and will be able to cope easily with the situation, and anything that goes with it. He's an excellent captain and has led England a record number of times. I've played a lot of cricket with him and he's a good friend. He said yes because he's prepared to do it and knows he can handle the situation well.

In the meantime, we at Surrey have got a big game coming up on Saturday – the Benson and Hedges Cup Final at Lord's against Gloucestershire. Both teams have just been knocked out of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy, and we played very poorly in our game against Yorkshire at Headingley. If we play like that on Saturday we'll struggle. Gloucestershire are a very fine one-day side. They've had the experience of playing in the last four finals, winning them all, and they've set the benchmark in English domestic one-day cricket. We played badly at Headingley – we know we can play better, and we're looking to play better on Saturday because once you get to the Final the important thing is to win it. We've got a good chance – they're obviously favourites with their previous success, but we've got a lot of very talented individuals and we've got to make sure we do the basic things right.

It doesn't count for much that Gloucestershire have finally lost a one-day knock-out match. What matters is how we play. We've done very well to get to the Final, and the only thing that matters on Saturday is that we play well and to our full potential.

In the meantime I am obviously pleased to have been cleared of the allegations that I provided information to a bookmaker in return for money. The whole affair has gone on for eight months, and there has been a lot of publicity on front and back pages. Now I would like to think there will be the same publicity after Sir Paul Condon has made his comments which have cleared this matter up.

The things that have been said have not been nice, but I am a pretty strong person. In English law you cannot make those allegations public. But they were, so I had to live with that. Now Sir Paul has made his comments and cleared me I can get on with my cricket. Thankfully it has been a very thorough job.

The ECB have been very supportive, and so have the public. I've had a lot of positive letters and just two indifferent ones. As always with those, no one signed them or put an address on them. I would like to thank everyone who has written and said supportive things.

I'm now planning to enjoy my cricket for the rest of the summer. I'm looking forward to the B & H Final, and to the Test Match at Lord's next week. It'll be good to play under Athers again after three or four years. Hopefully it'll be a one-off, with Nasser recovered and back in charge for the Third Test. As I write, Graham Thorpe is having treatment from the physio in the Surrey dressing room. I don't expect him to play on Saturday, but wouldn't discount him for the Test.

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