By Matthew Hoggard England bowler in Australia

We've been out here a while now but there are a few guys still not sleeping properly.

You go to sleep at 10pm and wake up at two in the morning. You twiddle your thumbs because you think it's the middle of the afternoon.

But we still haven't got out of the plane really. I still feel a bit dehydrated, not feeling my best.

We all had two weeks off after Sri Lanka and it showed really. We were all a bit rusty when we played our first game on Tuesday.

We played a one-day match which is not really great preparation but all the boys are rusty and it showed because we were beaten.

England suffer opening defeat

We really treated it as net practice but we would have liked to have won the game.

At least Tuesday's match gave us a clue about the wicket and about what the ball is going to do when it bounces.

I have been told that the wickets in Perth are very different from the ones in Brisbane where the first Test will be played. If that is the case it's something English cricket can learn from.

The sooner we can get Freddie playing the better

When we go to the subcontinent they prepare wickets in such a way to make things difficult for us.

But when the touring sides come to England we prepare wickets basically for them which is very stupid.

So if they are making it hard for us then that's part of the game plan and I think that's what we should do when they come to England.

People say they are worried about Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff still struggling to return to full fitness but it is not affecting team morale.

We came over here knowing they were not 100% fit but were a week or so away from being 100% fit.

They are the sort of quality players we need in the side so the quicker they can get fit and get some match practice in the better.

I think it's easier to get fit over here - with all the good weather - than it would be in England.

Appealing for a wicket in my first tour match

The hotel has got a great team room, with table-tennis, a pool table, big screen TV and darts. It's just a great place to go and chill out.

In India it was totally different and we had heightened security - we couldn't move without an armed guard.

Also everybody knew who you were in India because they are fanatical about cricket there.

Over here you can walk down the street, go to a shop or a restaurant and be anonymous.

On a personal level, I was reasonably happy about the way I bowled on Tuesday.

There were things I can work on, but for the first bowl in a while with the body feeling tired after the flight and all the training I was quite pleased with my first outing.

It's just up to the team management now how much bowling I do between now and the first Test.