Hoggard bowled with a bandage on his right hand at Lord's

Hoggard's bowling hand was trodden on by team-mate Tim Bresnan during a warm-up for an England A game.

"At five to 10 on the morning of the Test match we were doing a fielding session and I looked down at my hand and it was bleeding," he explained.

"We ran inside to check the stitches hadn't split. Thankfully, they hadn't."

Matthew Hoggard: Secrets of swing

The 29-year-old recovered to take the new ball for England, capturing five wickets in the match as they drew with the tourists.

It is a lot easier when you have Steve Harmison and Fred bowling at 90mph Matthew Hoggard

"Batting and bowling didn't hurt - the hardest thing was catching and fielding and whether, if I got a knock on it, it would open up," Hoggard continued.

"We went to see a number of people that week and they said it was highly unlikely it would.

"With so many injuries, if I hadn't been playing it would have meant us having an inexperienced bowling attack.

"It is nice to have some experience there, and from my point of view it's nice to feel I will be in the side until I do something wrong.

"Hopefully I will be in it for quite a long time to come."

The Yorkshire star is looking forward to the return of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who will skipper the side and share the pace bowling burden with Hoggard and Steve Harmison.

"It is a lot easier when you have people like Steve Harmison and Fred bowling at 90 miles per hour and being the hostile, aggressive ones," Hoggard added.

"It leaves you to settle down into your own role.

"For me it has paid dividends and the rewards have been just.