Why the Ashes matter

Such thoughts are buzzing around the minds of most English cricket fans like flies around jam jars. Will the time Kevin Pietersen has spent in South Africa working with Graham Ford have put right whatever it is that has gone wrong with his game since 2009? Has Ian Bell finally come of age as a batsman? What will James Anderson do when the ball stops swinging after those few first overs? Is Steve Finn too callow? Is Paul Collingwood shot? Will Alastair Cook's technique hold up? Spend too much time brooding on it all and you'll risk slipping back to the English fans' factory settings – abject pessimism interspersed only by occasional flickers of futile hope.

'Fatherhood is the best thing in my life,’ said Pietersen. ‘Having not been selected by England at least I had the chance to spend a bit more time with the little man and it was magical. He’s amazing, absolutely amazing. I’ve worked out that I will be away from home for 220 days this winter and that will be tough. I will only see my family for a short while during that time. It will be the hardest thing this winter.

I’m still driven and hungry. I still want it. But when you become a father you do have distractions. It’s a time which coincided with a slump in form but I still don’t think I’d have had that slump if the wickets had been good and conditions had been more in the batsmen’s favour.