Australia played some good cricket, but they have forgotten how to win.
The atmosphere and the first days of Test matches against Australia are incredible.
When you go to Australia you are always asked whether you can perform in hostile environments against high pace and every Australian side I have played against has had guys bowling over 90mph.
The wickets I have played on for my whole career, most of them have been to suit fast bowlers in Australia.
I'm quite certain that if the rest of the world vanished overnight and the development of cricket were left in Australian hands, within a generation, the players would be wearing shorts and using the bats to hit each other, and the thing is, it'd be a much better game for it.
Playing Australia, of course, is always challenging.
When I played in the Australia team the captains were all nerds. Allan Border was a nerd, Mark Taylor was a nerd, Steve Waugh was definitely a nerd and Ricky Ponting too.
With just about every player in Australia, his whole goal and ambition is to play for Australia. That's why they're playing first class cricket. It's just a different attitude.
As a fast bowler if you're not going to bowl well on a Perth wicket you're going to struggle in Australia.
It's a fun day, a day which kicks off the start of our tour, it's got great tradition - Australian cricketers just love tradition - and it's been a really pleasant day.
The Ashes are the biggest Test series played in the world.
The Australian approach to playing cricket in general is quite an aggressive one.
During my years of professional cricket in England, I realised that although the Australians were talented players, tactically they were a bit naive when compared to those who played full-time on the English circuit. You might find this arrogant, but that was the reality then.
Dotting teams up and bowling maidens back to back cannot be underestimated in Australian conditions because it gives you control of the game.
It's a song that we sing after we win a Test match. We sing it after every one-day series win. It's been passed down through the generations. It's the culture of the Australian team.
My memories of Australian cricket are it was an environment of good fun.
I absolutely love my cricket. I would watch it six, seven hours a day when Australia were playing. I grew up in a very spoilt era of Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Ricky Ponting and others.
Australia play best when they've got a bit of mongrel about them, when they play hard out in the middle, when they don't give an inch, when they play an aggressive brand of cricket.
Cricket is semi-pro for women in Australia, but the girls work damn hard, and it's credit to them to try and grow the sport.
I realise I would not be the bowler I am today without the experiences, positive and negative, that I have had in Australia down the years.
