If batting, you need to use your partner so it does not feel like 11 versus one. Similarly with bowling, sometimes things can go badly for you. If you feel events are spiralling out of control, use the people around you to slow things down and help you through that.
I heard a rumour there may be expats forming a Brisbane version of the Barmy Army. There might be up to 1,000 of them among 30,000-odd Aussies, so they will need to make a lot of noise to be heard.
I would be delighted to play three of the five Tests in this series. Any more would be a great bonus. I was going to get through all five against India in the summer, before the last was cancelled, but this will be more intense and the conditions draining, so we are going to have to manage our way through it.
The first Ashes morning in Brisbane is a fabulous experience, and I will tell the lads to just embrace it, and remember we can win.
Azeem Rafiq feeling alienated in a cricket dressing room is upsetting
We are thousands of miles from home but watching the Azeem Rafiq situation with close interest.
We have obviously discussed it a lot as a group. It has been upsetting to see the game of cricket being talked about in this way. We know we have got a job as international cricketers to set an example for people, to try and show people cricket is an inclusive sport.
What has upset me is hearing that Rafiq felt alienated and unhappy in the dressing room because it has been my second home for 20 years now. It is somewhere I have felt safe and happy so to hear someone feel like he did is is absolutely awful.
My job is to make everyone feel welcome especially as I have grown into being a senior player. In my experience we have tried to be as inclusive as possible in the England set up to anyone who comes in.
I have spent time thinking back and asking myself whether I have heard stuff and should have stepped in but I can’t think of any occasion when something was out of order or unnecessary. Perhaps I have just been lucky but I hope most others feel the same way.
