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just learnt that he’s been dropped from the England team, take out some of his frustration. Then, through the middle of the day, we bowled too short and both sides of the stumps. It wasn’t great, and Somerset got to 2/304 by the time we were getting ready to take the second new ball.
    James Faulkner got a breakthrough in the last over with the old ball, and then Mitchell Starc and Jimmy Pattinson got it totally right, and showed what a destructive force they can be when they get on a roll. In six overs with the second new ball, they took seven wickets for ten runs. It’s a great feeling in the field when the wickets tumble like this, and we walked off on a bit of a high after turning a pretty ordinary day into a good one.
    But the lessons remain to be learnt. When the sun’s out, we have to attack the stumps early. Later, when the ball gets old and batting gets easier, we have to bowl with more discipline and apply pressure. And then, when things turn our way, we have to cash in.
    Thursday 27 June. Taunton.
    We’ve had a good day’s batting, albeit shortened by some light but persistent rain that kept us off the field in the afternoon. For me, it’s hard to believe, but this has been my first bat on tour. We’ve been here a month, and finally I’ve padded up and faced opposition bowlers in a match situation.
    The funny thing is, even after nine years as an international cricketer, I get just as nervous going in to bat in a game like this as in a Test match. Even if it’s club cricket for Western Suburbs in Sydney, I’m still like a cat on a hot tin roof while I’m waiting to bat. I can’t sit down, and pace back and forth in the dressing room, listening to music on my iPod. When I go out into the middle, I’m so tense all I want to do is get off the mark. I wish I wasn’t like this, but I am. It’s not going to change now. I guess if I’m serious, I have to acknowledge that my nerves are a measure of my hunger to score runs, and my excitement to be in a cricket match. It’s no different now from when I was a kid. And if it fades away, maybe that’s when I should be thinking of a new career. Right now, because of the enforced lay-off and all the physio treatment, my excitement is as high as it’s ever been.
    I just wanted to play solidly, and more or less achieved that with 45 runs in two hours before I nicked one. All in all, a pretty satisfying knock.
    The batting highlight was Watto’s 90 at the top of the order. I batted with him for about 15 overs and he was hitting the ball as hard as ever. Watto going back to the opening slot has been getting a lot of press, since Boof announced the move before this game. It’s been well documented for about a year that Watto has wanted to open the batting for Australia. This has made it hard for Ed Cowan and David Warner, who became the openers in 2011–12 while Watto was out with an injury. When he came back into the team, Ed and David were going so well that Watto had to slot in at number four. He hasn’t had a great run there, and everyone knows, when they look at his figures, that his biggest impact as a Test batsman has been when he’s played against the new ball – as he does in one-day and Twenty20 cricket.
    What’s confused people a bit is that Darren Lehmann was the one who told the media, during the practice match in Somerset that Watto would be opening the batting in the Test matches. They then ran with the story that Boof had come in and decided to give Watto what he’d been asking for.
    This wasn’t the case. Now that I’m not a selector, the NSP will give me a team at Trent Bridge in the lead-up to 10 July and I’ll decide who bats where. Since I’ve played for Australia, the captain has always chosen the batting order. On the matter of Watto individually, over the past three months Mickey and I have had a lot of communication with him. I’ve talked to Watto, and other players, about the roles I see them playing in the Ashes series, and