BBC SPORT | Cricket | The Ashes | England must hold their nerve



By Matthew Hoggard England bowler in Australia

The hype is building ahead of the first Test of the Ashes series, but I've just enjoyed a lovely day off - the first of the tour.

We've been watching a few videos of the Aussies, had a swim and got the chance to catch the Melbourne Cup on TV, although I didn't manage to pick the winner in the team sweepstake.

Brisbane is a livelier city than Perth, where we spent the first two weeks of the tour.

We never expected Darren Gough to be ready for the first Test

And there has been a chance to meet up with a few old friends, and some old enemies.

On Wednesday, though, there will only be one focus for the team as we have our first day of practice at the Gabba.

We'll have a meeting in the evening and I'm sure that the law will be laid down by Duncan Fletcher and Nasser Hussain.

As in every Test, the key to this one will be discipline. We've got to maintain the same amount of discipline on the fifth day as on the first, as every lapse will be pounced on.

Hussain and Hoggard
Nasser will lay down the law in Wednesday's team meeting
Our three-day match against Queensland was tough, and admittedly their first innings 582 must have looked a bit frightening.

But it gave us a good run out; the whole team improved during the match in terms of energy and the standard of fielding, while the batsmen had a good chance to have a net.

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I would have liked to have bowled better - I tried to bowl an English length to start with - but the bowlers all got better as the game went on and we got used to the conditions.

A lot was made of the dropped catches - although several of them were only half-chances.

But we know even those are crucial in a Test match and we've been doing a lot of extra work on our fielding.

The first morning of the series will be crucial because it is when both sides lay their cards on the table.

An injured Darren Gough
Gough's departure has not hit team morale
Last time around, the Aussies got the better of us at Edgbaston but if we can give them a shock here they might take a step back and realise that we're not going to be a walkover.

Obviously there has been some speculation that we will be without Darren Gough for the whole series but, as a team, we have not yet been told that.

I never read the press, whether in Australia or at home, although I'm sure they've already done some digging and bagging over our chances.

But team morale hasn't taken a hit with Darren's latest injury news - we never expected him to be ready for the first Test.

Hopefully he will be able to get back to fitness at the Academy and will be able to play in the second or third Test.

And we'll do our best to make sure England are looking good when he returns.


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