Spirits are high in Birmingham

Since the great result at Lord’s, we’ve had a terrific week with some of our squad staying in London with their families while a bulk of the touring party travelled to Derby for our three-day tour game.

Despite losing most of the second day to rain, the Derbyshire game provided a good hit-out for some of the guys who have been on tour since the series against the West Indies a couple of months ago but haven’t been playing a lot of cricket of late.

Shaun Marsh was exceptional opening the batting, it was great to see Fawad Ahmed get some wickets, and Peter Siddle bowled really well for us taking the new ball.

We also had Mitchell Marsh getting wickets and bowling with good pace, David Warner scoring his first hundred of the tour which was great to see, Shane Watson hitting the ball beautifully and Michael Clarke spending some time in the middle when he opened the batting in our second innings.

Clarke gets a hit, Marsh stars with ball

It was also really good to have Brad Haddin back with the group and out on the field, where he scored runs and seemed to be enjoying the chance to have a gallop in the outfield.

But as of Sunday, we’ve gathered in Birmingham where our focus is the third Test that gets underway at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

The hour-long bus trip from Derby to Birmingham gave our bus driver, Popeye, another chance to entertain the lads and for our fast bowlers to strengthen their control over the back seat area of the bus that they are guarding jealously.

Having bowled a few balls in excess of 140kph, Mitch Marsh keeps trying to get a spot down the back by claiming he’s now a genuine fast bowler.

But the quicks aren’t buying it and keep booting him back to his seat down the front.

It’s got to the stage where Mitch is offering to pay them to let him back there, but they’re still not budging.

The good news is that everyone in our squad is injury free, although there is still a bit of a question mark over Chris Rogers as we wait and see how he’s going after the dizzy spells he suffered on the last day at Lord’s.

As far as we’re concerned, the most important determinant in deciding whether Chris plays our not is his health and wellbeing.

I’ve always said we must remember we are only playing a game of cricket so it will be a decision that Chris makes in consultation with – and with guidance from – the Bupa Support Team Medical Staff before we finalise our XI.

We also have to keep in mind our motto that you must be 100 per cent fit to play in a Test match, especially one as crucial as this third one in an Ashes series that is currently poised at one Test all.

One of the other big talking points ahead of Wednesday will be the wicketkeeper’s position in our team, with Peter Nevill making his Test debut at Lord’s when ‘Hadds’ was unavailable.

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Brad Haddin enjoys a run in the outfield // Getty Images

We are yet to finalise our XI for Edgbaston so all I can say is that we, as a selection panel, will make the decision that we believe is in the best interests of the team and that gives us the right balance for the conditions that we’ll face in the Test.

If we have to make a tough call then that’s what we’ll do, but that won’t happen until we see how everyone shapes up over the next couple of days and we get a look at the conditions which will allow us to make a solid call on every position from one to 11.

As we’ve seen, England have made one change to their squad with Jonny Bairstow coming in for Gary Ballance which would indicate that they intend to continue playing that positive brand of cricket they’ve spoken about.

And which they certainly have done in the first two Tests of the series so far, so we’ll have to be on our game from the very first ball on Wednesday.

But if we play the way that we played at Lord’s and start really well – and we’ve seen from the first two Test matches how important it is to hit the ground running – then everything else will look after itself.

What pleased us most about the Lord’s Test was that we were able to dominate a Test match from go to whoa and didn’t give England a sniff in what was one of our best all-round performances in a long time.

To repeat that performance would be a very special thing and go a long way to helping us achieve what we’ve come over here to do.

There’s been a lot of discussion throughout the series about the nature of the pitches that we’ve seen to date, but the fact that we’ve had two four-day Test matches means there must be something in them for the bowlers to get the results they have.

So we’ll see what’s waiting for us here at Edgbaston, although we know for a fact it was under covers all day Sunday as the rain fell in Birmingham.

But if the weather turns a bit better for us then I’m expecting it will be another good Test match wicket.

Of course, this is the ground that hosted that famous Test match in 2005 when England won by two runs – the closest Ashes Test match result in history – and Michael Kasprowicz was dismissed so close to an amazing Australia victory.

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Michael Kasprowicz and THAT moment in 2005 // Getty Images

I was at that game working as a television commentator, and I know that in the decade since then ‘Kaspa’ has travelled the world telling audiences at sportsmen’s nights that the glove the ball brushed and that led to him being caught behind was not in contact with the bat at the time.

And he reckons that if the umpires knew the laws of the game he would have been the hero of one of Australia’s greatest Test wins ever!

Hopefully this week’s third Test will be just as memorable, but with a different result.

Edgbaston is a great place to play cricket, with a really vocal crowd which will be a huge difference to Lord’s where the spectators are more genteel and the atmosphere can be almost eerie silent at times.

So we’re looking forward to hearing our Aussie fans among the noise.

The support we’ve got so far from the CATO gang and the many other tour groups that are over here from Australia has been huge, and it provides a great lift for our players to have pockets of the ground where there is a big green-and-gold presence in among the England fans.

We hear them and their barracking which is really important for us when we’re away from home, especially in these small stadiums where they can make quite a difference to the on-field atmosphere.

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