THIS festive period promises to be an exciting one for all cricket fans, with England starting their Test series in South Africa and the Big Bash to watch on the TV.

I think it will be a tough ask for England to win in South Africa but I certainly wouldn't discount it.

South Africa will be a different proposition to the team that lost heavily on spinning pitches in India recently and it will be a very keenly contested series.

I'm a little bit sitting on the fence in terms of the result. South Africa are really difficult at home and a lot depends on how England start. If they can get a win in Durban on Boxing Day, or even a good draw, they can take that momentum and build from there.

The Big Bash is certainly up there as one of the best Twenty20 domestic tournaments in the world.

You've got the weather at 30-odd degrees almost every day and it's sort of the done thing to go and watch cricket in Australia. You are marketing to an audience that's already engaged.

Cricket in England is popular but we all know that one day it can be 30 degrees and the next it's 15 and raining.

They have guaranteed good weather, so they can guarantee the good wickets. They certainly aren't going to get a sticky dog on a Friday night like you do at Headingley!

They've gone to the franchise system in Australia, which I think is great for T20 cricket. Through that sponsorship and money, you can sign the best players in the world.

You've got to move with the times and for English cricket, I think it would be a good thing.

It would be harder for each individual to get into a certain team – but surely you want to be pushed and to play the best quality of cricket you can.

One of the arguments against franchise cricket in England is the names of the teams; that you might not get somebody supporting a Leeds team if they are not from the city. I don't see that as an issue.

If it was a Leeds franchise, your crowd shouldn't be blinded by what the team's called. It would still be your Yorkshire franchise. I think it would be quite an old fashioned approach to argue against it on that basis.

If I couldn't get into the Yorkshire franchise, I wouldn't have any problem at all going elsewhere. As a cricketer and sportsman, all you want to do is play.

A few of our lads at Yorkshire have put their name on the draft list for the Pakistan Super League competition in February. It did cross my mind to do it as well but I didn't rate my chances highly as a result of no international and other competition experience.

But it's good for us as a team that our players – and our coach – are going and seeing different competitions such as the Big Bash and bringing back nuggets of information and ideas.

* I'm looking forward to Christmas and spending time with the family but it won't be all rest because we are back in training at Headingley as a squad on January 4.

I'll have a few days to myself over Christmas and New Year but I'll also make sure I'm in the gym ticking over so I don't lose all the hard work done in the first half of our pre-season programme.

We've been doing the hard yards for five weeks, four days a week, to build our fitness, so having a couple of weeks completely to ourselves would be a waste.

I'll probably have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off and then be in the gym for the rest of it. Most of the lads will be doing the same thing.

I'll finish by wishing all Yorkshire fans a Happy Christmas and hope you all have a prosperous New Year – and remember over this festive period, don't be tight, get your wallets out!

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