CRICKET: Revival that showed we can compete

WHATEVER the final outcome, the first three days of the Brisbane Test have taught us some valuable lessons for the rest of this series.

Friday, when we fought back with bat and ball after such a disappointing start, shows that at the top of our game we can compete with these Aussies.

But days one and three proved that to do so we cannot afford a single slip. The margin for error is so small it hardly exists.

Take the way we have to bowl at Matthew Hayden. No wonder he's rated the world's No.1 batsman, he's one of the hardest players I have ever tried to bowl to.

If you slightly over-pitch you get driven and if you drop a fraction short he pulls and hooks well.

That leaves you with an area no more than three or four inches square in which to land the ball every time and if you miss it you get punished.

But when you look at his first innings you realise how just everything has to go right for you here.

He was only in the forties when he skied a chance, with Simon Jones made a brilliant effort to catch it on the boundary.

Simon took the ball well and even had the presence of mind to toss it back into play as his momentum took him over the ropes. But the rules said he had to be in control of his actions while taking the catch and Hayden was given not out.

It was another 150 or so runs before we got Hayden out, more or less the difference between the two sides on first innings.

Crueller still was the accident which ruled Jones out of the rest of the tour. That was just the kick in the guts we didn't need. Everyone felt for him, especially since he had been injured in his first Test and had started to bowl well here. That said, I am delighted my Yorkshire team-mate Chris Silverwood has been called up as a replacement. He has played only five Tests but I have lost count of how many times he's been 12th man and he deserves another chance.

When Jones got injured we knew we were going to struggle - we were down to just three quick bowlers on a beautiful batting wicket against the best side in the world.

But our fightback on the second day gave us reassurance. Andy Caddick bowled beautifully and I was happy with the way I chipped in with two important wickets.

We now know we can bowl them out again in the series if we apply constant pressure. Stick to our disciplines and not stray at all, that's what its all about out here.

The less said about the ball I got out to yesterday the better, except to say I had watched two overs from the non-striker's end and seen the ball constantly bouncing higher than the stumps. The one I left didn't.

I don't know yet whether Freddie Flintoff will be fit to play in the second Test and whether I am going to be sent back to Adelaide to continue preparing for the one-dayers. If that is the case I may have missed out on a family opportunity.

Last winter when we were in Christchurch I felt so certain I was going to play against New Zealand that my dad, Fred, flew over from our family home in Bendigo, Victoria, to watch, only for me not to get picked.

For Brisbane I was so certain I was not going to play, I didn't suggest he flew up here. What happened? I got picked.

Dad has never seen me play a Test for England. One day I hope we get the timing right.

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