Cricket: Now you Poms know exactly what 's next; BRING ON THE ASHES

ENGLAND have some serious thinking to do after the trouncing we gave them at Old Trafford on Thursday night.

It may just be the one-day series but when we got back into the dressing-room after bowling them out for 86 our mood was nothing short of ecstatic.

Our original aim had been to win to make sure we'd reach the final of the NatWest Series. But we ended up inflicting a massive psychological blow on the Pommie batsmen.

England now know what's in store for the rest of the summer. And the fact that they also know they couldn't cope the first time they were put under real pressure gives us an enormous advantage to take into the Ashes series.

It should go without saying that whenever we bowl in international cricket we are trying our hardest every ball. But there were times on Thursday night when that little bit extra was put in - and if people thought we were targeting Owais Shah they were dead right.

In his first couple of games for England he has looked quite a prospect, but both Glenn McGrath and myself decided it was time to show him what international cricket is all about.

That is not to say we deliberately went out to try to hurt him - you can't do that under the one-day rules covering bouncers. But when he came to the wicket, what we saw was a young cricketer who needed to be shown a thing or two. He was in for one hell of a time.

We were determined to put Shah under pressure, keep him there and not relent for a single ball.

And once the two of us were into a rhythm and taking wickets it was really the same for all the England batsmen.

And I think we got our message across!

A lot has been made of the fact that England were batting second under lights, but I don't think that was as important as the type of wicket we played on.

If I could, I'd roll up that Manchester strip like a carpet and carry it around all summer. When Pigeon (McGrath) bowled the first ball and I saw it carry through with pace at a comfortable height to Adam Gilchrist, my eyes lit up.

With the bowlers we'll have for the Test series we think we can give England problems on any surface. If it is spinning we have Shane Warne and Colin Miller and if a wicket is wet and seaming around we've got Damien Fleming.

But when there is pace and carry that's when McGrath, Brett Lee and myself should come into our own. That's all we ask for.

I've learned a lot from playing with McGrath and people would be surprised by just how simple our approach is. We are not like some bowlers who try to make the ball move off the pitch by holding their fingers across the seam and sending it on its way with a whip of the wrist.

What McGrath has taught me is if you make sure every ball lands on the seam, in the right spot around the off stump, the batsman will be under pressure. And if it moves one way or another, even just a couple of inches, they will either give a catch to the slips or we'll have a chance of an lbw.

As for my own performance in my first international match since March, I could not have been happier.

Many fast bowlers, when they return after injury, hold something back fearing they might hurt themselves again. But I didn't even think about the hamstring. Once I got into a rhythm everything just came flowing back.

The speedgun showed that the ball that got Owais Shah's wicket was around 90mph. It wasn't a deliberate attempt to bowl fast, but an example of how good my rhythm was.

I can't wait for the Ashes.

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