Just to mark your card TMS will be on air each day at 1000 BST ahead of an earlier 1030 BST start.

It will be the first Test series not involving England played in the UK since 1912 when South Africa and Australia were part of a triangular tournament with Old Trafford, Lord's and Trent Bridge providing the neutral venues.

Expert analysis comes from former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja and ex-Aussie skipper Ian Chappell with Phil Tufnell and Vic Marks providing the neutral viewpoint.

Lord's plays host to the Test between Australia and Pakistan

We'll have our normal range of interval entertainment including what should be two fascinating "View from the Boundaries".

Bill Wyman, the Bass player with rock legends the Rolling Stones will be with us on Thursday at Lord's and we'll hear from Ryder Cup golf captain Colin Montgomerie during the Headingley Test.

As these are the "Spirit of Cricket" Tests we'll be discussing just what the spirit of cricket means in the modern game , we'll hear from Pakistan legend Imran Khan ahead of his "Cowdrey Lecture" at Lord's and
we'll be joined by the ICC Chief executive Haroon Lorgat who will telling us how the world's governing body are trying to support Pakistan cricket during difficult times.

Talking of troubled sides, during the Headingley Test we'll be hearing the latest on the hopes of Zimbabwe to return to the Test arena. Also at Leeds, author Harry Pearson will be joining us to tell us about his investigation into the history of northern club cricket including some of the great names who have featured in the leagues over the years and as Muttiah Muralitharan plays his final Test match in Galle we'll be looking back on his prolific, if sometimes controversial career.

It all gets underway on Tuesday at 1000 BST. I hope you'll be with us.

As the debate raged over just how Robert Green managed to let the ball slip through his fingers in England's opening game against the USA, I just happened to mention that I wasn't sure what the fuss was about... as in some sports England are already world champions!

Most of England's Barbados heroes will be in action over the next month as the season moves from Test matches to a series of one-day internationals, featuring five games against Australia.

Whilst the Aussies will be looking for revenge after their defeat in the ICC World Twenty20 final, England will be hoping to gain some sort of edge with the Ashes series now only five months away.

The "Little Master" took part in a half-hour question and answer session and Test Match Special was given special permission to record the event - you'll be able to hear some of Tendulkar's fascinating thoughts on the game during our coverage of Tuesday's opening one-day international against Australia at the Rose Bowl.

Tendulkar scored a century against England as a precocious 17-year-old in 1990. Picture: Getty Images

You'll hear Tendulkar's thoughts on the forthcoming events Down Under - "I think England have a good chance of retaining the Ashes", on the formats of the game in the future: "I am sure things will keep changing with each generation... but for me, Test cricket will always be the number one format. That is the most challenging, tough and satisfying form of the game", and on his own future: "I want to play for as long as possible and as long as I have the desire and the hunger I will carry on... The day I do not want to get out of bed and do anything then I know it will be time to go in another direction."

You will also hear some fascinating memories of Tendulkar's first tour with India in the UK 20 years ago when he became the second youngest player to score a Test hundred and his memories of that epic 2002 one-day series final at Lord's when India chased down a mammoth target to lift the trophy.

Our commentary team for the Australia ODIs includes Jonathan Agnew, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Henry Blofeld and Simon Hughes, with Jim Maxwell from ABC radio again providing the Australian perspective.

They will be joined by former England captain Michael Vaughan, who although best remembered as the man who won back the Ashes, suffered a very different experience in his first game against Australia in a one-day international back in 2001.

"In my first game against the Aussies I was bowled first ball by Jason Gillespie as England were dismissed for just 86. I remember the Australian captain Steve Waugh set a very attacking field for me. Three slips, two gullies and a short leg... not what I was expecting in a one-day international. I think the ball nipped back, flicked my pads and bowled me. My feet were nowhere."

Our other summarisers for the Aussie ODIs include TMS favourites Vic Marks and Phil Tufnell, plus Angus Fraser will be with us for the first time this summer. We will also be joined by former England batsmen Mark Butcher and Alec Stewart while current Lancashire boss and ex-England coach Peter Moores will be part of our team at Old Trafford. And legendary Australian fast bowler Jeff Thomson will be providing his normal forthright views throughout our coverage of the games.

As well as ball-by-ball commentary other features coming up include a "day in the life" of England women's captain Charlotte Edwards including her work supporting the Chance to Shine campaign, the Lord Mayor of London will be telling us about a very special cricket match being played at Windsor Castle featuring a Royal Household team and we'll be joined by a host of celebrities as the Lord's Taverners celebrate their 60th anniversary.

It all gets underway on Tuesday, 22 June with the opening ODI at the Rose Bowl and TMS will be on the air at 1415 BST on both BBC 5 live sports extra and BBC Radio 4 Long Wave.

And if you can't wait until then, BBC Scotland has ball-by-ball commentary on the Scotland v England one-day international being played in Edinburgh on Saturday, 19 June - details here.

Lord's again proved to be anything but stuffy as a venue with some imaginative initiatives which earned the MCC a rather rare TMS honour.

For many years now regular listeners will know we present a bottle of bubbly to honour the Champagne Moment of the game - an award which bears the name of TMS legend Brian Johnston.

Often the prize goes to someone who's taken a great catch or scored a brilliant hundred - but this time the commentators awarded the bubbly to a "body" for what must be the first time after deciding that the MCC's idea to allow spectators to walk on the "hallowed turf" during the lunch interval on Monday was the moment which Brian Johnston would have appreciated the most.

When Phil Tufnell spoke with some of the spectators on the outfield during Monday's lunch interval on TMS, he discovered many had only come to the ground because of the chance to experience the walk onto one of sport's most iconic playing areas.

Tuffers found people who'd travelled from as far a field as Durham and Cornwall just to enjoy that magical moment of being out in the middle at the home of cricket - and we saw people literally reaching down and kissing the turf.

The award was presented to MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw to share among his staff and it was certainly the most unusual Champagne Moment I can remember since the prize went to the groundsman at Trent Bridge who'd slept under his lawn mower after working through the night to make the ground playable for a Test a few years ago.

The match at Lord's provided us with some other notable firsts. The thrilling Tamim Iqbal became the first player, I would imagine, to almost run off the field after completing a hundred at the ground.

His celebration was a deserving Champagne Moment runner-up and his innings was particularly enjoyable when we heard it had been inspired by Geoffrey Boycott - although it was more a reaction to Geoffrey's strident views rather than a tribute to his batting style!

Then, on Sunday the five-minute bell, which signals the players are ready to enter the field, was rung for the first time ever live on air after the honour was given to our own Jonathan Agnew. As an extra bonus we were permitted to broadcast from the Lord's Long Room, again for the first time, as Aggers made his way to perform his duty.

Aggers rings the five-minute bell - but carries on broadcasting

You would think Jonathan's colleagues would be very proud of him having been given such a special opportunity but, of course, instead we all enjoyed taking the mickey out of him. The main culprit was Phil Tufnell (egged on by me to be honest).

Aggers was sitting in the TMS box adjusting his tie ready to go over towards the Pavilion when Tuffers came into the box and said: "I'm really annoyed ... they phoned me a couple of hours ago and asked if I'd ring the bell this morning but I didn't have any smart gear to wear. Apparently they've been asking everyone."

Also in on the joke was Keith Bradshaw, who greeted Aggers by telling him: "We tried the ground staff and most of the stewards but I guess we are left with you."

Yet another first at Lord's was the arrival of a cake in the TMS box which had been baked by a pop star. Lily Allen popped in on Monday morning with a delicious raspberry sponge which she assured us had been crafted by her own fair hands.

We will have another young musician joining us at Old Trafford with the lead singer of Keane, Tom Chaplin, joining us for a "View from the Boundary". Most of the band are dedicated cricket fans - and, I'm told, fairly decent cricketers - and it will be fascinating to hear Tom's views on the game.

Also during our coverage of the Old Trafford Test we will be giving you the chance to put your questions to West Indies fast bowling legend Michael Holding, who earlier this week expressed the controversial view that Twenty20 could kill off Test cricket.

"Whispering Death" will be joining us during the lunch interval on Friday and you can get in contact via tms@bbc.co.uk , on this blog or by texting 84040.

We will also be joined by Angela Marks, the daughter of the great England spinner Jim Laker, who will be making her first visit to the ground where her father took 19 wickets in a single Test.

Like England, we are adopting a rotation system on Test Match Special for this game with Henry Blofeld and Vic Marks coming into our team at Old Trafford as CMJ has a rest and Michael Vaughan joins Alison Mitchell providing regular reports on Five Live.

Vic and Blowers will join Aggers, Simon Mann , Phil Tufnell and Geoff Boycott in the commentary box.

As always look out for our pictures on the TMS Flickr page, make sure you don't miss Aggers and Boycott's legendary TMS podcast and keep on eye on @aggerscricket and @alisonmitchell on Twitter for insights from inside the commentary box.

We are on air from Friday at 1045 am .. Hope you can join us.

Bangladesh are England's first opponents and they'll be hoping to provide the same stubborn resistance they displayed during England's recent tour there. It's good news for the series that their exciting "wunderkind" Tamim Iqbal looks like he is going to play through the pain barrier and open the batting at Lord's even though he's been struggling with a wrist injury.

Meanwhile, their talented captain Shakib Al Hasan will lead his team out despite recently suffering from chicken pox. I suspect few of his team-mates will be volunteering to join him in a pre-match huddle.

The only thing catching in the England side is confidence. It may be a different form of the game and some of the personnel on Thursday were not on duty in Barbados last week, but when I attended the England player of the year awards at Lord's on Monday evening you got a real sense of buoyancy among Team England.

The winner, Graeme Swann, turned his acceptance speech into a one-man comedy routine, taking the mickey out of the evening's host Nasser Hussain - especially for never picking him when he was captain.

Swann and the rest of the winning Twenty20 squad had just been to a Downing Street reception and had apparently burst into laughter when Prime Minister David Cameron made a slip of the tongue in congratulating England captain Colin.

Having attended a reception in Bangladesh a few months ago, when England's managing director Hugh Morris was introduced as Mr HUGE Morris, I have a pretty good idea of what a group of England players look like when they burst into laughter at an inappropriate time.

Paul "Colly" Collingwood was, of course, not the slightest bit offended at Number 10. I'm not sure he has stopped smiling since lifting that trophy at the Kensington Oval, although he won't be in action at Lord's this week after the decision was made to rest him because of a shoulder problem. Stuart Broad joins him on the sidelines for the first couple of games of the summer.

No rest for our cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew - he'll be on duty at Lord's leading the TMS commentary team as normal. He'll be joined by Simon Mann, who was with us in Bangladesh in February/March and by the MCC president-elect Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

We were all thrilled to hear the news of CMJ's elevation and I have no doubt he will do a splendid job in his year in office. Although when I saw the present incumbent, John Barclay, on Monday night I did ask if he really knew what he was letting the MCC in for. I warned John that CMJ would clearly be late for most official functions, with the reasonable chance he'd turn up for duty at The Oval rather than Lord's!

Our expert summarisers for the Test are Phil Tufnell, fresh from his lycra-wearing exploits on Strictly Come Dancing, Geoff Boycott, who I would pay to see wear lycra (at least I think I would), and England's most successful captain Michael Vaughan, who returns from his paternity leave after becoming a father for the third time just before England's triumph on Sunday.

Stephen Frears is heading from the Cannes Film Festival to the TMS box. Picture: AFP

As well as ball-by-ball commentary, we'll also have plenty more to enjoy during our coverage from Lord's. Our first "View from the Boundary" of the summer will be the acclaimed film and television director Stephen Frears. Frears directed the Oscar-nominated The Queen, starring Dame Helen Mirren, as well as a string of other successful films, including My Beautiful Laundrette, Dangerous Liaisons and The Grifters.

Whilst England were taming the world out in the Caribbean, there has been plenty of debate about the future of cricket in England and we'll be assessing the state of affairs during Thursday's lunch interval. We'll try to get to the bottom of what exactly is going on with parallel IPLs, conference systems and franchises. We'll hear from county chairman, officials and from players. But as always we want to hear from you. Leave your thoughts on this blog or e-mail tms@bbc.co.uk.

With the first official one-day internationals being played in the USA this week and a new exhibition opening at Lord's exploring the links between cricket and baseball, we'll be looking at the potential for cricket in America and celebrating five years of the Chance to Shine campaign, asking what has been achieved over that time to improve the standard of cricket played in state schools in the United Kingdom.

As always, BBC Radio 5 live will have regular updates every 15 minutes with Pat Murphy and England's most capped cricketer Alec Stewart, plus 5 live Sport on Wednesday night has a special cricket preview show with guests, including former England coach Peter Moores, Angus Fraser, analyst Simon Hughes and Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons.

The Test Match Special podcast with Aggers and Geoff Boycott will be available after each day of Test cricket - look out at bbc.co.uk/cricket for details of that plus pictures from behind the scenes at TMS, blogs and of course the Test Match Special text commentary. Plus, Jonathan Agnew will be Twittering away in the TMS box - you can follow him @aggerscricket.

Three years ago I arrived in Barbados for the start of the 2007 World Cup and was immediately struck by the negativity that seemed to be shared by the local people about the forthcoming event.

I remember writing a blog a few days before the tournament began about how the people I had met felt there was a danger that the West Indies World Cup was not going to be the Caribbean event it should be.

Ticket prices were too high, musical instruments etc were to be banned from the grounds and new stadia built specially for the event were too far away from where people lived and lacking in character.

At the time I wrote the blog I thought I was just reflecting a flavour of what a few people felt - but it turned out to perhaps be "the" story of the 2007 West Indies World Cup. An elongated competition played in front of mainly small crowds with little of the unique Caribbean atmosphere.

So the big question is have the ICC and the local organisers learnt from the mistakes of three years ago?

Well the first impressions are certainly good.

When I arrived at the Grantley Adams International airport in Barbados on Monday we were greeted by lots of large colourful signs urging us to "Bring it" ... the motto of the competition and the name of the official tournament song featuring, I'm reliably informed, "Dancehall maestro Mr Vegas and soca queen Fay Ann Lyons".

I'm sure its an irony not lost on the ICC that three years ago a lot of negative publicity was centred around what people were not allowed to take to matches. In 2010 the catch line for the tournament is "bring it".

Although I've yet to find out if all shapes and sizes of shells and musical instruments will be allowed in grounds - what is definitely evident from my first couple of days here in the West Indies is that unlike three years ago there is a real buzz about the tournament.

We are expecting big crowds with many games already sold out I'm told and it seems lessons have been learnt over ticket prices. You can see a game for less than two pounds with tickets for the final itself available for around 13 pounds.

I was in Barbados on Monday and have travelled on to Guyana and in both countries virtually everyone I have spoken to seems enthusiastic about the forthcoming cricket with many already having bought tickets to some of the games.

The man who helped me with my luggage in my hotel in Georgetown said he'd see me at the two warm-up games on Wednesday. "It's the only tickets I could get," he said."I wanted to watch the West Indies beat England next week, but all the tickets had gone."

Our coverage of the World Twenty20 gets under way on Friday with commentary on Five Live Sports Extra of the opening game between Sri Lanka and New Zealand followed by the hosts the West Indies taking on serial giant killers Ireland. We will be on air from 1745 BST on Friday.

Over in St Lucia, Alison Mitchell will bring you news of Afghanistan's opening games after their amazing qualification for the tournament, plus details of the first matches featuring the holders Pakistan and previous champions India.

The Kensington Oval in Barbados will host the final

England begin their campaign on Monday against the hosts with Five Live Sports Extra and Radio Four Longwave bringing you ball by ball action from 1830.

We will then bring you commentary on England against Ireland on Tuesday before beginning our blanket coverage of the Super Eight stage onwards from Thursday 6 May, including commentary on the semi-finals and final of the Women's World Twenty20 which is running alongside the men's competition.

Our correspondent Jonathan Agnew is leading our commentary team alongside the voice of West Indies cricket Tony Cozier with expert analysis from, among others, Michael Vaughan who will be with TMS once again.

There will be extensive coverage here at bbc.co.uk/cricket and look out for more blogs, articles and behind the scenes pictures on Flickr plus twitter posts from Jonathan Agnew and Alison Mitchell.

And as always we want to hear from you - with comments here on the TMS blog or by e-mailing tms@bbc.co.uk.

We are very much looking forward to "bringing it" all to you!

I know the team likes to be involved in great rearguard actions on the final day of Test matches, think Cardiff and Cape Town, but normally it's England battling against the odds rather than the opposition.

There was a moment at lunch on the final day at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium when a few people started to wonder whether Bangladesh could pull off a great escape -and the prolonged resistance came as something of a surprise. The generous sprinkling of England supporters, who've made the journey here to Chittagong, were probably expecting an afternoon on the beach at Cox's Bazar rather than a tense day of Test cricket.

In the TMS box at lunchtime, I was putting forward the theory that a draw for Bangladesh in the circumstances would probably be their best ever Test result. But the likes of Simon Hughes, Mark Butcher and Dominic Cork were quick to point out that I should stop speculating as England were going to wrap up victory sooner rather than later.
Adam Mountford interviews Alastair Cook and Graeme Swann
I remember it was the same during a couple of last year's Ashes Test matches. As Australia began the final days at Lord's and the Oval, I recall being more than a little anxious that the Aussies could create cricket history and chase down massive targets. There were no such concerns from the likes of Agnew, Boycott or even the normally nervous Phil Tufnell.

What I try to explain to the ex-professionals is that as a seasoned England watcher, your default position is to expect the worst and then you won't be too disappointed!

England's struggle to victory didn't displease some of the TMS listeners. Richard Teeling e-mailed us in the early hours of Tuesday morning from an overnight shift: "It's quiet here in ambulance control, I suspect an easy England win but please boys drag it out in true England fashion till 6am when I finish work to keep me awake."

England didn't let Richard down!

Its never ceases to amaze me just how many people are listening to us - even with play in this series starting at the unsociable hour of 3.30am GMT.

We often hear from students working through the night. Adrian at Aston University got in touch during the Test: "Loving listening to the cricket while being up writing an essay that is due in in seven hours time, it is keeping me sane!"

Peter in Bath contacted us on the first day of the Test to tell us where he was following TMS: "Listening in hospital. Bloke in next bed snoring loudly. Suppose I should thank him for waking me up in time for the match. Thank goodness I remembered the pocket DAB and headphones. Going home later fortunately. You guys are saviours, thanks!"

Whilst Andy e-mailed us from Runcorn: "I'm working at a housing project through the night. You are keeping me awake. I don't finish till 8 and will be listening on long wave in the car on my way home."

So England and the Test Match Special team are now making the journey 160 miles south back to Dhaka. We heard earlier that the Bangladesh capital has actually had some rainfall in recent days and one of the rumours at the start of the fifth day in Chittagong was that the bad weather may reach the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in time to help save the home side.

It will be interesting to see what the line-ups will be for Saturday's second Test. Will England persist with the policy of picking just four frontline bowlers? Will they include a third debutant of the series, with James Tredwell included as a second spinner?

As for Bangladesh, we expect some changes to their team - with even some reports that Rokibul Hasan, who sensationally quit international cricket on the eve of the series at the age of just 22, may be about to reverse his decision. We certainly hope for a change of surface in Dhaka - the pitch here in Chittagong did not help the image of Test cricket, offering virtually nothing to the bowlers.

We have the same line-up here on TMS for the second Test with Simon Mann, Simon Hughes and Shamin Chowdhury joined by Mark Butcher, Dominic Cork and Athar Ali Khan.

As well as ball-by-ball commentary, we'll also be hearing during the Test from England managing director Hugh Morris and from ICC President David Morgan. We'll have a special feature on Sussex and Surrey county cricket teams ahead of the new domestic season and we'll review England women's tour of India.

Plus, we'll have more on the forthcoming Sport Relief weekend including how the Barmy Army are taking part in the "shirt of hurt" campaign by donning the tops of their deadliest rivals, the Australian Fanatics.

TMS will be on the air at 0315 GMT on Saturday morning. Don't miss the daily TMS podcast with the two Simon's, Hughes and Mann, and keep checking our Flickr site for more behind the scenes photos. And keep getting in touch especially if you are up in the early hours through this blog, at tms@bbc.co.uk or via text 84040.

It's an interesting venue situated around half an hour's drive from the centre of the city - I say, half an hour's drive, but just like in Dhaka, journey times vary massively depending on the level of traffic on the road and even though life here in Chittagong is not quite as hectic as in the capital, every trip to the ground has its fair share of drama.

I have found that the best policy when travelling here in Bangladesh is to keep your eyes closed and try not to let the cacophony of noise around you cause too much alarm. I am not sure quite how the colourful array of rickshaws, auto rickshaws, buses with people hanging off the sides and carts laden down with goods all manage to avoid each other. Maybe its all down to the liberal use of the horn which seems to be the main weapon in navigating your way through the random streams of traffic.

Spread along the shore just a few miles north of the city lies a stretch of tidal mud which, since 1969, has been the world's main centre for dismantling large boats including oil tankers. The metal from the ships is re-processed and used as a major part of the country's steel supplies. Nothing goes to waste - even the doorknobs and toilets are removed and re-sold and the last drops of oil from the tanker's holds are drained and put on sale.

As well as the sea, you can also make out a fair amount of greenery from the top of the stand at the stadium including the famous Chittagong Hill Tracts, the only intensive hill area in Bangladesh. They run for 13,000 kms bordering India and Burma and are one of the country's main tourist attractions. Our scorer Danny Byrne has spent the last few days between the ODIs and Test matches exploring the hill tracts and it will be fascinating to hear his experiences.

Chittagong's famous ship graveyard is visible from the top of the stand

As well as hills and water, there is also a fair amount of livestock on view from the stadium. Goats and cattle happily chew the grass around the car park at the ground although the high number of security guards around will I'm sure prevent any of them making their way onto the outfield during play!

The action at the ground has also been interesting - especially on the final day of England's warm-up match.

Myself and Simon Mann located ourselves next to the official scorers for the match as information can sometimes be a little scarce at these practice games. All was relatively calm for two days before Alastair Cook and Michael Carberry started to bowl in the half-hour before lunch on the final day.

As an incredible 189 runs were plundered in just nine overs and the poor scorers and the scoreboard operators at the other side of the ground just could not keep up and we went into the unusual situation of no-one having any clear idea of what the score actually was for quite some time. I'm not sure Cook will be checking the scorebook too often, however, after bowling five overs for 111 runs!

Poor old Kevin Pietersen could have done with some friendly bowling to kick-start his tour but again departed for a low score. To be fair, he actually looked in pretty good nick for the 20 runs he made and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a few in the first Test.

He'll definitely feature on Friday - but the make-up of the rest of the team will be fascinating. It looks like James Tredwell and Tim Bresnan have done enough to win selection and with Graham Onions almost certainly out and Stuart Broad still to prove his fitness, young Steve Finn may make his debut after bowling well in the warm-up match. Then there is the question of whether England open with Carberry, who would make a dream debut four years after almost giving up the game when languishing in the Kent second team. If England play five bowlers then Jonathan Trott or even Ian Bell may open. All will be revealed at around 0300 Friday morning.

Our team for the Test series is Bangladesh veteran Simon Mann, who is making his third trip to this country. He'll be joined by "the analyst" Simon Hughes, who will once again be part of the TMS team following tours with us previously to India and Sri Lanka and we'll also have top Bangladesh broadcaster Shamim Chowdhury in our commentary box again following his successful stint in the one-day series.

Expert analysis will come from Mark Butcher who batted for England on their previous tour to this country six years ago. He'll be joined by Dominic Cork, who has been bowling at England in the nets this week as he builds up for his county season with Hampshire, and Athar Ali Khan, who played international cricket for Bangladesh for 13 years.

As well as ball-by-ball commentary we'll have plenty for you during the intervals. On Friday, we'll have a special profile of Alastair Cook on his first day as England Test captain, we'll also be live in India as the third Indian Premier League gets underway and have a special interview with Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons, who was with the Australian side which lost to Bangladesh famously in Cardiff in 2005.

With Sport Relief only a few days away, on Saturday we'll be hearing about a project here in Chittagong which has been funded by previous appeals and we'll be joined by former England captain Alec Stewart who will be telling us about a Sport Relief event in Surrey - and on Sunday we'll focus on the amazing story of how a team from Afghanistan qualified for the ICC World Twenty20.

The text commentary will of course be in operation and look out for the TMS podcast after each day's play with the two Simons, Hughes and Mann, and more pictures on the TMS Flickr. As always we want to hear from you - especially if you are up on Friday at 0315 for the start of our commentary - you can comment on this blog, email tms@bbc.co.uk or text 84040.

And finally thanks to the many of you who have already sent kind messages after our double success at the Sports Journalists' Association Awards on Monday evening. We were thrilled that Test Match Special was named "Radio Programme of the Year" and Jonathan Agnew "Radio Broadcaster of the Year". A great honour for us.

Partly this is because of modern scheduling , where most of the time players only get to see airports and cricket grounds as fixtures are packed together as tightly as possible, and partly of course because of concerns about security.

So it was great to see several members of the England squad making the trip to the Sher-e-Bangla Primary School in Dhaka and for a very good cause.

Since 2006 the England cricket team have been involved with a campaign called "Cricket against hunger" working alongside the United Nations World Food Programme. It aims to highlight the work being done across the world to help improve particularly the lives of young people.

I managed to grab a word with England bowler Ryan Sidebottom whilst he was on the outfield during the game and he told me things were not necessarily going England's way. "We're getting smacked everywhere, lots of fours and sixes. I hope things improve for us on the tour!"

Ryan Sidebottom throws a ball to a girl during the visit to the school. (Pic: AFP)

But despite the challenges of the match against the youngsters, Sidebottom said the visit had left a lasting impression on him.

"It's great to be here - very humbling and a real privilege," he explained. "As England cricketers we can sometimes live in our own bubble and be a bit selfish but this is a fantastic occasion, a chance to put smiles on faces. We feel very special, many of us have families and it makes you realise how lucky we are at home."

John Aylieff, the World food programme representative in Bangladesh, gave me an idea of the sort of issues being faced here.

"There are 60m people here who are hungry , that's about the population of the UK. Most of the kids at this school come from slum areas and will at best eat one meal a day," he said.

By giving these biscuits we are at least giving the kids a breakfast and encouraging them into school so they also get an education."

Aylieff says that despite the problems here, he is very impressed with how people are coping.

"They show great resilience and spirit and there's nothing like cricket to help keep spirits high. For many of the kids at this school this cricket match against England will be the highlight of their whole lives. We work with a motivated government here and lots of other agencies and together we are making a huge difference," he explained.

One of those agencies is the UK aid programme and its Bangladesh head Chris Austin, a keen cricket fan himself, was also at the school. "In Bangladesh 50 per cent of the children under five are malnourished," he told me.

"They won't grow properly, they won't learn properly. Plus there is a seasonal problem between rice crops as well as a growing population expected to reach over 200m soon in a country the size of the UK. But Bangladesh can feed itself and has impressive strategies for coping for example with climate change issues. We are just here to help them implement them."

At the end of the match hundreds of the children, who had been cheering enthusiastically on the sidelines, were allowed to run on to the field to get autographs signed by the England players. It was an amazing sight to see for example six-foot plus Stuart Broad towering over dozens of youngsters as they surrounded him on the outfield.

One of the students, Ruhul, who had been involved in the game summed up what the day meant to him. "It's a dream come true to play with these cricket stars - I'll never forget today," he said.

You'll be able to hear my special report on England's visit to the Shere-e-Bangla school during the interval of Tuesday's second one-day international in Dhaka.

We are on the air at 0745 on 5 live sports extra and Radio Four long wave with regular reports over on Five Live and the text commentary of course here at bbc.co.uk/cricket. And you can see more of England's school visit and other pictures from behind the scenes on the TMS Flickr site.

I say slow progress because so far the horrendous traffic here in the capital of Bangladesh is the only negative side of what has so far been an enjoyable start to this tour.

Dhaka is one of the densest populated cities on the planet with they say more than 40,000 people for every square kilometre, that is more than ten times the figure for London. And it can sometimes seem that virtually every one of those people here has some sort of vehicle out on the road at any one time.

You are never quite sure what to expect when you turn up to a new ground for the match of a tour, so I was a little nervous when I arrived at the Narayangonj Osmani Stadium. At first, I wasn't sure I was in the right place as initially there was no sign of players, officials or anything resembling a crowd. But I was then strangely reassured to see a large bus pull up next to me full of soldiers and security men. Unfortunately, in the current climate this is an obvious sign that you have arrived at a international sporting event.

As I got out of the car, I was met by an official from the Bangladesh Cricket Board who announced that he was waiting to personally escort me to a commentary box. After a brief tour of the facilties he introduced me to one of his colleagues, Alam, who he informed me was to be my "BBC helper" for the day. Alam is a local cricketer who had been employed to provide any assistance I needed throughout the game.

While the broadcast lines were being fitted in the morning, Alam helped me find a suitable roof where I could set up the small satellite dish I was using to make contact with 5 live to bring early news on the game. The roof I found was also being used as a security base - and it was more than a little intimidating trying to describe Craig Kieswetter's fantastic batting surrounded by 15 soldiers all armed with large rifles.

England's Craig Kieswetter enjoys a trip in one of Dhaka's many rickshaws

Disturbingly, one of the soldiers seemed to be taking extra interest in what I was saying and was getting more and more anxious as my report went on. As I finished he came over and I feared what might happen next. He then put his hand in his pocket to pull something out - but it turned out he had a small portable radio with him which, he showed me, he had tuned to the BBC World Service. The reason he was looking anxious was that I think he was expecting the report I was doing to be going out live on his radio. I'm not sure he understood my explanation of the different kind of BBC outlets, but he seemed happy enough and bid me farewell with the words "I see you for the next bulletin."

The opening warm-up game was an enjoyable affair thanks especially to the fantastic hitting of Kieswetter. There may be some debate about another South African-born player in the England set-up but he seems a impressive young man and potentially quite a player. The last few days have not been such a good experience for another South African-born batsman, Kevin Pietersen and he will be pleased to see the back of fast bowler Alauddin Babu who conjured up a genie from the lamp to dismiss him twice in two days for a total of six runs.

However, after his impressive batting in Dubai, there is no doubt about Pietersen's place - but there'll be plenty for England's selectors to ponder ahead of the one-day series. Matt Prior, despite being bizarrely reprieved when the umpire called a dead ball because of music playing in the ground, probably did enough to retain his place with an unbeaten 64 in the second game. Ryan Sidebottom looked fit and bowled with trademark aggression - but who will join him in the bowling attack with Shahzad, Plunkett and Tredwell all putting up good cases to join probably Broad and Bresnan.

Well, you won't have long to find out what England do because after the warm-up games the action starts in earnest on Sunday morning with the first one-day international.

I'm delighted to confirm that Test Match Special will have ball-by-ball commentary on the whole of the tour which consists of three ODI's and two Test matches on BBC 5 live sports extra and BBC Radio 4 Long Wave.

Leading our team will be Simon Mann, who is making his third visit to Bangladesh. He will be joined by "The Analyst" Simon Hughes who will be returning to the TMS commentary box following spells with us in Sri Lanka and India and during last summer's ICC World Twenty20. We will also be joined by top Bangladesh cricket commentator Shamim Chowdhury. Providing expert analysis will be the former England all-rounder Dominic Cork, Mark Butcher, who was part of the England side which last toured Bangladesh in 2003, and former Bangladesh player Athar Ali Khan.

There will be regular updates on BBC Radio 5 live throughout the tour - plus, here at bbc.co.uk/cricket , as well as the text commentary there will be Test Match Special podcasts and blogs. Also, keep checking the TMS Flickr page for photographs from behind the scenes.

So join us on Sunday morning from 0745 GMT on BBC 5 live sports extra and the BBC Sport website, and from 0800 on BBC Radio 4 Long Wave.

Johannesburg was hit by a huge thunderstorm in the afternoon which would have washed out any play after tea - and on Monday the city was hit by heavy rain and dark cloud which may have made conditions impossible on what would have been the scheduled final day.

Whether it would have been right for England to win the series is obviously highly debatable although this morning's newspapers here in South Africa leave you in little doubt about what they think.

Stuart Hess, writing in the Johannesburg Star, states: "There are those who believe that England deserved to get something out of the Test series. They'd be wrong. The outcome was not a true reflection of the standard these two sides displayed, for South Africa were much the better team. England were resilient throughout, showed a lot of character, but even their own captain recognised they were the inferior team."

Despite England's rather disappointing capitulation yesterday morning it has overall been a gripping Test series. As England clung on to nail-biting draws at Centurion and Newlands we got a great picture through your e-mails and texts of how you were nervously listening to Test Match Special.

It was almost too much for TMS new boy Michael Vaughan at Newlands who turned to Jonathan Agnew during the final over to say "I'm sorry Aggers, I just can't watch this". Jonathan quickly replied: "I'm sorry you've got to. Remember how many times you put us through this sort of thing when you were captain."

One of my favourite stories of people listening to the series came from Steve in Oxford who e-mailed us when England were taking important wickets one afternoon. He told us: "I am currently invigilating an exam and just jumped for joy at that wicket, disturbed everyone, but I don't care! A few more and I might never be doing this job again!"

At Cape Town we were joined by Duncan Fletcher, who I think surprised many by displaying a great sense of humour which was rather kept under wraps during his tenure as England coach.

"Fletch" did, however, discover the danger of taking the mickey out of someone on air. After mentioning ex-England physio Dean Conway's penchant for cakes he was disturbed to receive a text straight away from the Welshman with a few choice phrases which thankfully Duncan did not divulge on air!

As for Vaughan he has been able to offer some fascinating insight into the current players and it has been incredible how many times he managed to predict what was going to happen. However Michael did also manage to quickly master the infamous commentators curse. It got so bad at Centurion that listeners were begging me not to allow him back on the radio because he was taking so many wickets!

It has been a series not without controversy, especially surrounding the Decision Review System, described on Saturday by ECB chairman Giles Clarke on TMS as a "shambles".

From a commentary point of view it can be a real shame that the dramatic moment of a wicket being taken is slightly lost with the often prolonged process of a decision going to review. On the other hand, if more decisions are made correctly then that is good for the game and I suspect we will all get used to extra delays.

TMS listeners believe the crowd at games has to be included in the process. They sit in complete ignorance not knowing what has been asked for and why a decision is overturned or not. This is simply not good enough for people who have paid a lot of money to go to games to be excluded from one of the key parts of play. The ICC must act to sort this out.

We shall see how the review system goes down in Bangladesh, where England are next in action following a brief visit to the United Arab Emirates.

It will also be fascinating to see how Alastair Cook gets on as England captain and it will be interesting to find out how good Yorkshire bowler Ajmal Shahzad is. Both Michael Vaughan and Geoff Boycott have been singing his praises over the last few weeks.

I feel a bit sorry for another Yorkshire player Adil Rashid, who after bowling in the nets all over the world in the past few years is not included on a tour where he may have had a real chance of playing in a Test.

The resting of Andrew Strauss will of course be controversial with several former England captains already saying he should be leading the team on the tour - although our own Geoff Boycott and Michael Vaughan have backed the decision.

Boycott told us that the focus has to be on the Ashes next year rather than Bangladesh whilst Vaughan said in his question-and-answer piece for BBC Sport "just because I didn't get a break as England captain doesn't mean that it was right."

Our own radio coverage of the Bangladesh tour is still being finalised. Keep checking bbc.co.uk/cricket and we'll bring you news as soon as we have it.

Finally, thanks for listening to our coverage of this South Africa tour and thanks for all your e-mails and texts. And sorry if at times it was not the most relaxing listen for you, but that's what happens when you follow the fortunes of the England cricket team!

Not only are we situated right at the top of the tallest stand at the famous Wanderers Cricket Ground, but being here on the Highveld in Johannesburg we are already about 2000m above sea level.

We will certainly get an amazing view of what will hopefully be the exciting climax that this series deserves.

England have certainly excelled at rearguard action during this series, but it was here of course at the Wanderers back in 1995 where Michael Atherton produced one of the most famous ever "backs-against-the-wall" performances to bat for almost 11 hours in making an unbeaten 185 to save a Test match.

South Africa had declared 477 runs ahead leaving five sessions to bowl England out, but Atherton, with great support from Jack Russell on the final day, pulled off one of the greatest escapes.

It's not only great Test match drama which has taken place at this ground. In March 2006, South Africa produced a miracle to chase Australia's world record 434-4 to win a one-day international here.

An incredible 88 boundaries and 26 sixes were struck that day and the moment when Mark Boucher hit Brett Lee for the winning boundary is represented in a huge mural at the entrance of the Charles Fortune Media Centre.

South Africa skipper Graeme Smith stretches his hamstrings at the Wanderers

In 2007, the Wanderers hosted the gripping final of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 when Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq narrowly failed to win a thrilling game in the final over against India.

England have enjoyed mixed fortunes in their last couple of Test match visits to this ground. In 2005, Matthew Hoggard took 12 wickets to lead England to an outstanding victory which went a long way to securing a 2-1 series win.

Marcus Trescothick's 180 and a 147 from Andrew Strauss should also not be forgotten while a certain Michael Vaughan scored half centuries, including an unbeaten 82 in the first innings.

Vaughan, who will be watching this match from the Test Match Special commentary box, also has special memories of England's previous Wanderers Test.

Vaughan was one of those players who made his debut in the Johannesburg Test of 1999 and famously watched on at the non-striker's end as England collapsed to 2-4 at one stage. England eventually lost that game, but Vaughan's battling innings of 33 when wickets were tumbling at the other end was viewed as an early sign of his talent at the highest level.

During this Test we will be looking back on that 1999 game, hearing from the likes of Allan Donald, who took 11 wickets in the game, Duncan Fletcher, who was in charge of England for the first time, and Vaughan among others.

Also during the intervals we will bring you a fascinating interview with Monty Panesar who is in Johannesburg playing domestic cricket for the Highveld Lions. Monty will be speaking about how the experience has changed him not just as a cricketer but as a person and how he has absolutely no doubts that he will play Test cricket again.

During the lunch interval on Saturday, we will be joined by ECB chairman Giles Clarke, who always has an interesting opinion on the game.

Jonathan Agnew will again be joined for this Test by Christopher Martin-Jenkins and Johannesburg resident Gerald De Kock, with Geoff Boycott and Vic Marks joining Michael Vaughan as expert summarisers.

Coverage gets under way on Thursday morning at 0815 GMT on Five Live Sports Extra with Radio Four long wave listeners joining us at 0900 following "Yesterday in Parliament".

As always Aggers and Boycott will present their Test Match Special podcast at the conclusion of each day's play. Keep on eye on Twitter @AGGERSCRICKET for the latest titbits from the commentary box whilst the TMS Flickr site will have pictures from behind the scenes.

After the events of Centurion and Newlands I cannot promise you a relaxing listen, but it should certainly be an entertaining one and it would be quite an achievement if England can beat a team ranked as the world's best 12 months ago in their own backyard.

It was a highly impressive performance from England in Durban with the South African collapse on the fourth afternoon proving dramatic and ultimately decisive.

Geoff Boycott happened to be in the summariser's chair as many of those wickets fell and I'm not sure I have ever seen him so excited.

I almost had to prise him out of the seat as he turned around to beg "captain let me stay on please, I'm taking all these wickets".

One of England's stars was Stuart Broad and it is amazing how often his top performances take place with his father watching on from the Test Match Special commentary box.

I remember in one of Stuart's first major roles for England sharing a match-winning partnership with Ravi Bopara in a one-day international at Old Trafford, Chris joined us as his son was receiving the player of the match award.

He was embarrassed when Stuart was asked during his presentation interview whether his father was at the ground watching. Stuart said to Michael Atherton: "Oh yes, he's here, wearing a terrible red jacket."

Then at the Oval last summer Chris was with us again as Stuart ran through the Aussies in the spell which went a long way to winning the Ashes.

That time Chris was immensely proud although he did say that Stuart may have played in an Ashes-winning side like him, but the fact Chris had won the urn Down Under still gave him the bragging rights in the Broad household.

And at Kingsmead, Chris was watching behind us as Stuart bowled Jacques Kallis and then narrowly missed getting a hat-trick as the Test thrillingly swung in England's favour.

Considering how often Chris is away in his role as an ICC match referee it is fantastic that his visits to watch England play cricket have coincided with some of Stuart's special moments.

Although he is not always lucky - I remember coming across him at Hamilton in New Zealand where he had travelled across the world in the hope of watching Stuart play.

Unfortunately he was not selected and it was the only game Chris was out there to watch. Of course as soon as Chris left the country, Stuart was selected for the next two games at Wellington and Napier and has hardly looked back since.

There was some hearty support for Stuart Broad and his team-mates from the England fans who turned up in Durban to spend their Christmas watching the Kingsmead Test.

Lots of "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to watch England win away." But that will be nothing compared to the following the team will be enjoying in Cape Town. We are expecting about 10,000 England fans and it is apparently sold out for at least the first two days.

As I went to the ground on New Year's Day, I bumped into a group of England fans who were desperately hoping some tickets may be left over - but I fear they will have come away disappointed.

It should be a very special atmosphere for the traditional New Year Test although England's record here is not very good while South Africa have won 14 out of their last 18 tests played at Newlands.

England prepare for the third Test at Newlands

It all gets underway on Sunday and we will try to bring you all the drama on Test Match Special. We will be on the air at 0815 GMT on Sunday on 5 live Sports Extra and Radio Four longwave.

Joining Jonathan Agnew and Gerald De Kock for the final two Tests will be Christopher Martin- Jenkins. CMJ had an eventful Christmas period with his son Robin and wife Flora producing a grand-daughter on Boxing Day... although being a "Martin-Jenkins" you won't be surprised to learn the baby turned up a few days late!

Geoff Boycott will be with us again hoping for the same kind of thrills that got him all excited in Durban while Michael Vaughan will be looking for a better experience in Cape Town than he enjoyed as a player. England suffered large defeats in his two Test matches played at Newlands.

Completing our commentary team will be local resident Duncan Fletcher who will be able to offer a unique perspective. Fletcher coached England to great success over almost 10 years, including guiding them to a series win in South Africa in 2004/2005.

But most recently, Fletcher has been working for the South Africa national side in a consultancy role and is a former coach of Western Province where he helped to nurture such talents as Jacques Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs.

As well as hearing Vaughan and Fletcher we'll also explore why the duo proved such a successful combination at the head of the England team culminating in the regaining of the Ashes in 2005.

We'll be chatting to many of those familiar names who have travelled to Cape Town, including the star of arguably England's most impressive victory abroad before last week's heroics at Kingsmead, Shaun Udal, who spun Andrew Flintoff's side to an unlikely win in Mumbai in March 2006.

The British High Commissioner, Dr Nicola Brewer, will be joining us to give advice to those travelling to South Africa both for this series and for the Fifa World Cup this summer and we'll be opening the pages of "Old Aggers Almanac" as we look ahead at 2010.

Kevin Howells will be providing updates every 15 minutes on 5 live. I feel a bit sorry for Kevin who is enjoying his first visit to Cape Town.

Since arriving in South Africa I have been telling Kevin how he'll find that the famous Table Mountain completely dominates the city. Sadly, so far the mountain has been almost totally covered by cloud , the "table cloth" as they call it here, so I don't think he believes that there really is anything to see.

It is also true that although all the iconic pictures of Newlands have Table Mountain gloriously displayed in background, when you actually walk around the ground you are struck that it's the rather ugly brewery next door which is the main site that you see.

I hope you'll join us on TMS Sunday and don't forget to check out the TMS podcast and @aggerscricket on Twitter. And as always we want you to take part in the programme - you can email us at tms@bbc.co.uk or send a text to 84040 or contribute to this blog.

It was certainly a nerve-tingling Test match for the TMS team in Centurion with former England captain Michael Vaughan feeling the tension from his new viewpoint.

During his debut TMS Test Vaughan quickly learnt about the infamous commentator's curse. On the third day while Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen were building a useful partnership, Vaughan was in discussion with Gerald De Kock about how impressively the two were batting together.

He then said: "Things are looking good. I just hope I haven't put the kiss of death on them". What happens next ball - KP plays on and Vaughan is crestfallen. "That's it I resign!" exclaimed the Ashes winner whilst Gerald turned to him and said: "Well bowled Michael Vaughan, a wicket to you!"

Having seen the sort of weather you have been coping with back home I am reluctant to talk about the conditions here in Durban. But after a hugely frustrating week spent here during the one-day international series when the rain never seemed to stop and not a single ball was bowled, unfortunately the forecast here is a little mixed again for the next few days. Hopefully like last week in Pretoria the rain will come during the evenings rather than disrupting play.

There is certainly no chance of a white Christmas here in Kwazulu Natal with temperatures ranging from 23 to 33 degrees and it is a little difficult to get into the festive spirit despite a sprinkling of decorations in the hotels and streets of Durban.

The England team will have a light training session at Kingsmead on Christmas morning before spending the afternoon with their families at the team hotel in Umhlanga about 20 minutes outside of Durban.

I remember watching England practice one Christmas Day in Melbourne and it was a rather strange sight seeing the likes of Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard bowling wearing santa hats.

Alastair Cook will also celebrate his 25th birthday on Christmas Day -bizarrely two other England cricketers in recent times have also had their birthdays on 25 December with Marcus Trescothick and Simon Jones both born on that day.

Alastair Cook will celebrate his birthday the day before the second Test starts

But come Boxing Day morning all thoughts of turkey and presents will have to be forgotten as a large crowd is expected for the crucial opening day of the second Test.

I am sure the TMS commentary team will show restraint on Christmas Day and will be on top form come Saturday morning. We have the same personnel on duty here as in Centurion with Jonathan Agnew joined by Simon Mann and Gerald De Kock with expert analysis from Michael Vaughan, Vic Marks and Geoff Boycott plus contributions from former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock.

As well as ball-by-ball commentary we will also speak during the Test to Dr Ali Bacher who has been at the heart of South Africa cricket for 40 years and to the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board David Collier. Plus as this is the last Test of the decade we will be looking back and looking forward.

We will be assessing some of the major developments and stories in the game over the past 10 years including match-fixing, the rise of Twenty20 cricket and the effect of terrorism and violence including a special interview with Paul Farbrace, who was one of those injured in the Lahore attacks. We will also be glancing into our crystal balls and opening "Old Aggers Almanac" to look ahead to what may take place in the cricketing world over the next 12 months.

As always we want you to take part in this. Among other things we want you to predict what will be England's line-up for the first Ashes Test in Brisbane come 25 November 2010.

Will it be Broad and Anderson opening the bowling or will Harmison surprise many and return to the side to try to exorcise the ghost of his first delivery at the Gabba four years ago? Will the likes of Alastair Cook and Ian Bell still be in the side or will perhaps Ravi Bopara and Rob Key be back in favour?

You can make your predictions either on this blog or email tms@bbc.co.uk.

Just a warning this Test gets under way half an hour earlier than last week - so try and keep your hangover to a minimum and set your alarm for 0745 GMT on Boxing Day morning for the opening day.

And if you miss anything look out for a full review of the day's play on Aggers and Boycott's TMS podcast - all the details here at bbc.co.uk. Plus Kevin Howells will provide updates every 15 minutes over on Five Live if you are looking to keep in touch with all the other sports action as well as the cricket.

So let's hope the second Test lives up to the excitement of the first and may I take this opportunity on behalf of the whole BBC cricket team to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Although the quality of practice in the warm-up games was debatable, playing a moderate South African Invitational side on a slow pitch, to be honest England were probably pleased just to get out on the field following a hugely frustrating period which saw them play only three days cricket in three weeks due to bad weather across the country.

When we arrived on the south coast, the prospects did not look great with a mixed weather forecast and a sodden Buffalo Park. When you looked down the East London Esplanade it looked more like a scene from John Carpenter's "The Fog" than a holiday destination with the sea mist enveloping the hotels by the edge of the beach.

But the players seemed to find things to do as the rain fell. Several made their way to the cinema where the disaster movie "2012" was a favourite , the nearby indoor gym was in regular use and we would often catch up with a member of the squad topping up supplies in the local supermarket.

However I don't think many sought out East London's most famous attractions which are housed in the Natural History Museum. A stuffed fish and an old egg may not seem very exciting, but the fish concerned is the famous "coelacanth" caught off the waters here in 1938 which evolutionists believe provided the missing link between water and land animals, while the egg is the only surviving dodo egg believed to exist in the world.

I also believe the players managed to resist the temptation to see the East London pantomime which opened this week... "Snow White and the Seven Dofs" at the Guild Theatre. According to the shows publicity, "keeping you in stitches playing Dame Dolla the Palace Nanny is Byron Mountford". I assume Byron is no relation of mine but to be honest I never went along to the Guild Theatre to find out.

Fortunately the weather improved by the middle of the week and we could all concentrate on matters on the field. Obviously practice at altitude ahead of a Highveld Test would have been better than down on the coast... although coach Andy Flower and wicketkeeping coach Bruce French did manage to reach the heights on the final day in East London when they scaled one of the floodlight pylons at Buffalo Park, much to the amusement of the players as they walked off the field at lunch. The former Nottinghamshire keeper is a massive climbing enthusiast.

In terms of lessons learned from the week of practice, it has just fuelled the speculation about the make-up of England's team for the first Test, with as many questions as answers.

Has James Anderson proved his fitness ahead of the Test? Do the five wickets for Ryan Sidebottom put him in contention for a recall? Has Luke Wright got a genuine chance of making his Test debut in Pretoria? Will Ian Bell keep his place with all six specialist batsman included?

As you would expect the England captain and management are keeping the final XI for Centurion close to their chest - and it will be fascinating to find out the line-up on Wednesday.

As for our line-up for the first Test - Jonathan Agnew will be joined by Simon Mann and popular South African broadcaster Gerald De Kock, with expert analysis from Michael Vaughan, Geoff Boycott and Vic Marks.

Vaughan, England's most successful captain of all time, is making his TMS debut in the game. He of course made his Test debut here in South Africa 10 years ago, led England to a series win on their last tour here in 2004/05 and played his final Test against South Africa before his tearful resignation as captain last summer. We will also hear regularly from former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock throughout the series.

During the lunch interval on Wednesday at 1030 GMT, we will be trying to cut through the jargon to explain how the controversial new umpire referral system works, including hearing from one of the boffins who helped develop the Hawk-Eye system which is being used to help make decisions. As always if you have any questions or observations then you can contact us via the TMS blog, e-mail tms@bbc.co.uk or text us on 84040.

Also during the Test we'll be focusing on the latest situation over in Zimbabwe and discuss if cricket is recovering enough for them to return to playing Tests. Guests will include Zimbabwe's minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart and former Zimbabwe player Pommie Mbangwa.

With Makhaya Ntini expected to play his 100th Test in Pretoria we will be assessing his contribution to South Africa cricket. We'll hear from TMS summariser turned England batting coach Graham Gooch, from selector Ashley Giles who also played in England's victory here five years ago and from England cricket's managing director Hugh Morris.

We will also begin a series looking at "Cricket's Decade", focusing at how the game has changed over the last 10 years with themes including match-fixing, the rise of Twenty20 cricket and the strength of the English game a decade after they plummeted to the bottom of the ICC Test rankings table. And we'll be catching up with Oli Broom who is "Cycling to the Ashes" to help raise money for the Lord's Taverners. Oli has got as far as Istanbul on his incredible quest to ride to Brisbane in time for next year's series with Australia.

It all gets underway on Wednesday morning with BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra on air from 0815 GMT. For the first couple of days BBC Radio 4's Long Wave listeners will join the commentary just before 0900 following "Yesterday in Parliament", but you will also be able to listen online - details at bbc.co.uk/cricket.

Kevin Howells will provide updates every 15 minutes on BBC Radio 5 live, and Jonathan Agnew will round up all the day's play with Geoff Boycott in the TMS Podcast.

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.

Former England coach Duncan Fletcher joins us for the Cape Town Test and the corresponding one-day international in his home town. Like Vaughan, Fletcher's involvement with England began with a series in South Africa 10 years ago and he guided the team to some great successes including that 2005 Ashes victory. But Fletcher will not only bring his experiences as England coach to our coverage. He is currently working for the South Africa national side in a consultancy role. Fletcher is also a former coach of Western Province where he helped to nurture such South African talents as Jacques Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs.

Popular South African commentator Gerald de Kock returns to the TMS box and he will be part of the ball-by-ball team throughout the tour to help bring some local perspective. We have two former South African stars with us as well. Daryll Cullinan, who played over 200 times for South Africa in Tests and limited-overs games, will be with us for the one day internationals and ex South Africa captain Shaun Pollock will join us from time to time during the Test Series.

Also during the one-day-internationals Matthew Hoggard will be popping in to the TMS box to join Aggers and co. Hoggard provided a match-winning 12-wicket haul at the Wanderers on England's last tour and he also enjoyed a very successful spell playing domestic cricket in South Africa for Free State.

BBC Radio 5 Live will have its usual updates every 15 minutes on all international games with Alison Mitchell and Kevin Howells. Jonathan Agnew and Geoff Boycott will present their legendary TMS podcast following each day of international cricket and there will of course be extensive coverage at bbc.co.uk/cricket including text commentary, features and blogs.

We'll try and make sure there are plenty of behind the scenes photographs available on our TMS Flickr site, plus check out Jonathan Agnew and Alison Mitchell's twitter updates throughout the tour. And as always we want to hear from you via e-mail, text and with your posts here.