I thought the fact that my mother was not at Lord's to watch me - she died three weeks ago - would hit me hard when I took the field yesterday. In fact, it happened when I walked out through the Long Room when the members all greeted Daryl Harper and me.

But I was focused when the first ball was bowled from the end I was standing at - and it passed harmlessly down the leg side. I had slept like a log in my hotel room in Maida Vale and Jenny, my wife, had left a big bar of chocolate with a card commemorating Mum on my pillow.

The first hour went fine, except that I was bursting to go to the loo. I managed to do so when the first wicket fell and a drinks break was called at the same time.

There were four leg-before shouts at me during the day, but the balls were all going wide or were pitching outside the line. The appeal from Dale Steyn when Kevin Pietersen was on 103 resulted from a ball that was taking off like a plane from Heathrow.

I did not look up at the screen to see if there was a replay. The crowd were good mannered and so were the players. I ate a full lunch of rack of lamb and strawberries and ice-cream - not just good food but first-class.

The one intervention that I needed to make came when I picked up Pietersen's necklace when he was hit on the helmet and gave it back to an England player later. I do not wear a necklace myself.

Billy Bowden is a member of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Match Referees, sponsored by Emirates Airline - an official ICC partner.