In Kimberley
I've been in South Africa for a few days now and am getting into the swing of the England tour. One warm-up match has already been won convincingly and the second is taking place in Kimberley, a former mining town with an intriguing history, as it was central to the country's diamond rush in the late 19th century.
Having driven the two hours west from Bloemfontein, across wide red-earthed plains, and past a myriad of termite mounds as well as the odd ostrich, the attention of producer Louise Sutton and I was soon focused on Stuart Broad, after he got off the team bus with his right arm in a sling.
It transpired that he'd injured his bowling shoulder diving in the field during the warm up game against the Eagles, but fortunately, the results of scans have shown there is no major damage.
England will be hoping his shoulder responds to treatment by the end of the week, so he can play in the Twenty20 international on Friday. However, the fact that the ECB have said he'll miss the next two matches "at least" suggests they will err on the side of caution, with the one-day series taking priority over T20s.
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With the opening match of England's tour of South Africa already under way, I thought it would be a good time to let you know some more details of BBC Radio's coverage of what promises to be a really exciting next few weeks.
BBC Radio 5 live will have regular updates from England's warm-up games, starting with the match against Diamond Eagles in Bloemfontein on Friday. Then the Test Match Special team will be in action from 13 November with ball-by-ball commentary on the two Twenty20 Internationals, the five match ODI series and the four Test matches, which get underway at Centurion Park on 16 December.
As you will have probably heard new TMS signing Michael Vaughan will be with us in South Africa for the Test series. Vaughan made his Test debut in Johannesburg in 1999 and led England to a 2-1 series victory on England's last tour of South Africa five years ago. He will be joining our correspondent Jonathan Agnew plus other TMS favourites including Christopher Martin Jenkins, Simon Mann, Geoff Boycott and Vic Marks. But Vaughan will not be the only TMS new boy joining us on this tour.
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In the middle of October I saw this thread on the 606 message boards: "Not a wind-up attempt, but as your side is half full of South Africans, if you had to choose an English XI, who would be in it?
"I was about to do my own XI but when I checked Stephen Moore for Strauss's spot I found out he's from Jo'burg. So I thought about Ed Joyce, and he's born in Dublin! Can't find an opener."
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