It was a pleasant surprise when I got picked for the Ashes tour. I must admit I had an extremely good finish to the 1994 season with Kent [57 wickets at 19.01], so it wasn't completely unexpected. I found out about two hours before the announcement when a pressman phoned me up. To be honest I didn't believe him, and it wasn't confirmed until I heard it on the radio. Nobody called me or anything - it was the same when I was first picked for England in 1993. That's how they did things in the old days. I didn't know any of the team especially well before the tour. I roomed with various people, and I got to know Devon [Malcolm] and Daffy [Phil DeFreitas]. I suppose I did feel a bit isolated: having grown up in Australia I got plenty of stick; the usual `Judas' stuff. It wasn't so much the press there - just people generally. They could be quite cutting, and I suppose I found it quite tricky.

We definitely thought we had a chance before the series. As everyone knows, the plan was to fight fire with fire, and we expected an even contest. Personally, I didn't expect to play in the first Test. I thought I'd play in a fair few warm-up games to give people a rest, but I took a few wickets and when Devon got chickenpox I was in.

I did feel I bowled poorly, though I certainly wasn't any more nervous than usual. I think basically I just tried too hard - it's the first morning of a series, you're trying to dominate them and they're trying to dominate you. The pitch didn't do a lot and Michael Slater played fantastically well. To be honest, nobody really said much to me at lunch or at tea, but I'm big enough and ugly enough to know when I've bowled badly. I didn't need anybody to tell me. It's down to yourself.

I didn't bowl in the second innings. I ate some oysters - it was an official function - and ended up with a stomach problem. Then I got a stress fracture soon after and that was it. Brisbane's in the history books, and people rarely remember Trent Bridge, where I had a pretty extraordinary debut a year earlier - a load of us [McCague, Mark Lathwell, Mark Ilott and Graham Thorpe] came in and stopped the rot against Australia. I thought I bowled really well there on a flat wicket.

I finished up at Kent this year. I was in the squad for the first County Championship game but didn't make it, and in the end I got sick of batting No. 11 and coming on third or fourth change for the 2nd XI. I asked what was going on and was told the club were looking to the future, so I went off to play for Herefordshire.

I think Simon Jones and Steve Harmison will do well in Australia - Jones especially. My only worry with Harmo is that you know exactly what you're going to get: short and at you. He does get lots of lift, but the Aussies have always been very good at playing the short stuff, so that might be a worry.

The key to the series will be how we play Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee - an awesome trio. Our batting's improved a lot over the last two years, and our openers are flying. I'm glad Keysie [Rob Key] got called up - I felt a bit sorry for him when he missed out the first time. He got a bit of stick yet he made two good 30s on a stinking wicket at Headingley. The dropped catches definitely didn't help, but Keysy doesn't even field in the slips for Kent. He was asked there and he said yes. You can't blame him for that.

Martin McCague was talking to Rob Smyth.

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