It’s lonely being on the wrong side of an Ashes mauling, but the visitors have to band together and draw on their inner strength
In 1998 I was part of an England team that headed into the Boxing Day Test 2-0 down. We were being outplayed by a better team and psychologically that is a tough place to be in international sport. When you’re on the wrong side of a one-sided contest it’s really quite depressing, constantly racking your brains to dream up ways to change things. Back then, what came next was probably the most satisfying England game I was ever involved in.
It is a milestone in anyone’s career to play such a historic fixture in an amazing stadium. I remember the first day, 80,000 people squeezed into the ground and the feeling of being absolutely dwarfed by the MCG – the stands are high, the playing surface is huge. It’s very easy to get overawed but on that occasion as a team we showed a degree of stubbornness and, helped by an Alec Stewart century and six wickets from Dean Headley in the second innings, we managed to win. England find themselves in a similar situation now, but can they turn it around?
