Tim Bresnan: Credit to Australia but we are ready to fight back

A big defeat for us in the first Test in Brisbane, lots of talk about sledging on the field, lots of stuff written about the England team in the Aussie press (apparently, that is, ‘cos we don’t read the papers) and the unfortunate return home through illness of my good friend Jonathan Trott, whom I wish all the very best (get well soon, Trotty).

Yes, it’s certainly been a busy few days and the series has captured everyone’s imagination.

Hopefully, we can now give our supporters a massive lift by getting back into the series in the second Test starting in Adelaide tomorrow.

Clearly, we were all very disappointed to lose that first Test, and I don’t think we’ve got any excuses, to be fair.

The simple truth is we didn’t bat well enough in our first innings and that enabled Australia to take control.

Once we got bowled out for a low score we were always struggling and it put them into a great position.

Credit to them, they played really well, and they closed out the game in professional fashion.

But what’s gone is gone, and all we can do now is focus on trying to put things right in Adelaide.

We’ve made a point of coming back well in Test series when we haven’t got off to a good start, and the challenge now is to do the same.

To be honest, I’ve no idea why we sometimes start poorly on overseas tours.

It’s certainly nothing to do with the preparation, or the passion and desire that we have as players to do well, and if we knew why it happened then it wouldn’t happen.

The only thing I can think of is that we are perhaps the sort of side that learns and grows in the conditions we face.

What I mean is, I think we often get better as tours go on and have more experience of the specific conditions we encounter in each country.

Of course, the opposite argument is that we play enough cricket around the world to know what those conditions are going to be in advance, and it’s true that they’re no different to anything we’ve previously faced.

But, for some reason, we seem to grow into tours and haven’t been able to hit the ground running as much as we’d like.

So, no excuses for Brisbane, but we haven’t suddenly become a bad side. I’m extremely confident we can bounce back strongly.

Of course, that first Test was a full-on affair, and there’s been plenty of discussion about sledging in recent days.

My own view is that it’s part of the game, and although the press have made a big deal out of it, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been anything more than what usually goes on.

I sat out that match in Brisbane through injury, so consequently I can’t comment on any specific incident. But it’s part and parcel of cricket as far as I’m concerned and something that happens all the time, rather than anything that’s just cropped up.

So, do I sledge batsmen?

Of course not...

No, in all seriousness, it’s something I rarely do.

I just try to keep my head down and let the ball do the talking as much as possible, which is the way I find works best for me.

Sometimes, of course, you might have to say something every now and then.

Sometimes, you have to get yourself into the fight, get yourself into the game and let the batsman know that you’re around.

Generally, though, I’m pretty quiet, although every bowler has his own way of doing things.

It’s the same for batsmen, of course. They all react in their different ways; each player has his own method of dealing with verbals.

Alastair Cook, for example, is one of those who just stands there and doesn’t let anything faze him.

If a bowler says something to Cooky, he just totally blanks him and the bowler is basically wasting his time.

Joe Root, on the other hand, likes to have a bit of a giggle and a smile back at the bowler.

Some of the other lads might say a few words back now and then; it just depends on each individual.

I’ve heard some sledges over the years, of course, but this column isn’t the best place to repeat them.

When I think back over my Yorkshire career, my old team-mate Steve Kirby was one of those who liked to say a few words, but he wasn’t a sledger – he was just silly. Kirbs would just say random stuff to get himself into the battle.

He has always been a terrific competitor. The other thing to remember is that most of what’s said on the field, you don’t really hear it in any case.

If you’re concentrating on what you should be concentrating on, you don’t hear it and it just passes you by. The only time you probably hear it is if someone makes a point of coming up to you and saying something in your face. Otherwise, it just washes over you and it’s something that’s probably more of an issue in the press than it is with the players.

Talking of the press, I’ve heard that the Aussie media have been getting stuck into some of our lads. Fair enough.

I think the beauty of it from our point of view is that we don’t read the papers. In fact, we only ever become aware of lots of issues surrounding the cricket when we do press conferences and get asked questions about things like this. People might say, “What do you think about this?” or “What do you think about that?”

And I’ll just say, “Dunno, mate. It’s the first I’ve heard of it.” Or, “I haven’t read that paper”, and so on. After all, it’s tomorrow’s fish-and-chip paper, so there’s no point getting worked up about it.

The important thing now is to get ourselves back into the series and I’m desperate to play my part in the Adelaide Test.

I’m available for selection after a match for the England Performance Programme last week, and it was great to be back after my injury problems.

I bowled nicely and did alright with the bat, and it was just a case of coming through without incident really.

The back feels great, and I’m fit and firing if England need me.

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