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Consistency in selection is great but it's a whole lot easier if you've got players who warrant that consistency through their performances.
Glenn McGrath
You can tell yourself that everything is normal, and try to keep the same routine from every other Test match, but there is always something extra special about an Ashes series.
If you are good enough to play international cricket, you can take wickets - but you have to bowl the right length.
The year 1989 was crucial for me because I had just moved from the country into Sydney to play first-class cricket. That was the time I heard of a teenager called Sachin Tendulkar, who had burst on to the scene and was being annointed as successor to the great Sunil Gavaskar.
Sometimes when things are happening outside the team, when forces are at work to try to break the team apart or cause issues, it can actually have a different effect - it can bring the boys closer together. They become more of a unit and they start to protect each other.
When I made my debut in 1994-95 I bowled big outswingers pretty much every ball, because people had told me you should bowl consistent outties to take wickets.
A coach these days is more of a manager than a coach. At this level, you shouldn't really need a coach. You need someone to organise, to come up with gameplans and tactics, rather than someone who is going to do much actual coaching.
I'm expecting big things from our bowlers, from Peter Siddle, who plays the enforcer role, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee when he gets fit again. In batting, there's Phil Hughes, whose already done well for Australia and scored hundreds for Middlesex.
You can come up with all the gameplans that you want but the guys in the middle have to execute those plans. If Jimmy Anderson or Stuart Broad serves up a leg-stump half-volley, you can't turn round and blame Andy Flower.
Dotting teams up and bowling maidens back to back cannot be underestimated in Australian conditions because it gives you control of the game.
You can't go on living in past and having regrets. Its better people have a positive influence on other people's lives than worry about themselves.
When things aren't going well it can feel like the world is against you and there's nowhere to turn.
I had always had the same pre-match routine that I went through every day - get up, go down for a swim and a stretch, back to the room for a shower, then down for brekkie - the same routine every game, and it got me ready.
If you continually watch yourself do something well, it has a positive effect. If you sat down and watched yourself bowling, batting or fielding badly, it will probably have the equal effect.
But if you have got a batsman out three or four times in the same series then you are in business - all of a sudden you have got yourself a bit of a bunny.
A lot of people who have had the support of a McGrath breast care nurse, they come up and say what a positive difference it's made in their lives and that in itself makes me realise what we're doing is having a big positive effect and inspires me to keep going.
As a bowler it's a strange feeling when you start running through a team. You get that one wicket under your belt and suddenly you start running in feeling loose, feeling relaxed and thinking about what you want to bowl rather than focusing on trying to force that wicket.
My strength was probably more the mental side of the game rather than the skill side. I always had that self-belief that I was good enough. You have got to believe you are good enough, otherwise there is no point to it.
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.
Jimmy Anderson deserves everything he gets, and even though he is an Englishman I will be delighted for him when he goes past my record and becomes the most prolific fast bowler in Test history.
The difference between first-class cricket and international cricket isn't skill, it's attitude and the way you go about things.
My experience with Australia in the 1997 Ashes series taught me that fighting back is a combination of technique and mindset.
If they don't execute well enough then there's nothing much a coach can do. But if they do execute those plans correctly and they don't work, then you need to be able to adapt and come up with something different.
England fans should be pretty happy to have Jofra Archer in their Test team - because he is something special.
If you've got one bowler - particularly a fast bowler - who is really aggressive, all over the opposition, he brings the rest of the team along with him.
When you've got a team who are making a concerted effort to make a batsman feel uncomfortable it can look pretty ordinary.
The best thing about Lord's isn't the slope, it's just being there.
Have a little protection if that helps your bowler - Brett Lee always wanted a cover and a midwicket because they helped him bowl his natural length and made him more effective as a result.
One of the great things about cricket, and certainly something that I found helpful, was that as soon as you step over the boundary rope you can switch off everything that is happening off the field and focus solely on what is happening out on the pitch.
The Foundation and Pink Day are about celebrating and hope, I know when the time comes and I move on, if I have people celebrating my life and what I bring to the world I'll be happy.
My parents split up when I was 16, and, while Mum came to a few Tests, Dad didn't make many. So I was glad he was at Lord's.
To win Test matches consistently you've got to take 20 wickets - yes, you've got to score runs but if you can't bowl a team out it doesn't matter how many runs you score.
There are more people enjoying wine in India, they are interested in exploring new things and I think wine is part of that journey.
An Australian prime minister once said that his job was the second most important job in the country - behind being captain of the cricket team. It's not a job you take on lightly.
If you have knocked over a batsman once - fine, it happens. Twice, OK. But more than that in the space of a few Tests then there is definitely something to work with.
By the time I made my international debut Tendulkar was already being counted among the best batsmen in the world. Most bowlers knew that his was the crucial wicket in an Indian batting line-up that boasted of many talented batsmen.
As a fast bowler if you're not going to bowl well on a Perth wicket you're going to struggle in Australia.
I bowled in tandem with Brett Lee, who produced some fast, fiery spells. When you've got someone bowling up above 90mph, it has a fear factor that not many people really enjoy.
It's the games you lose or struggle in that you learn most from in Test cricket.
It's incredible what the Sydney Test has become - it's now iconically the pink Sydney Test. It's the sixth year that the McGrath Foundation has been involved and the support from everyone in cricket - right across the board, supporters, teams, you name it - has been absolutely incredible.
Umpiring is a tough job. Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't want to be an umpire. You've got a split second to make a decision.
I always wondered if I would know the right time to retire. After that first Ashes Test in Brisbane in 2006 I had no intention of stopping. I was still focused and wanted a thousand international wickets. I was still driven.
You're always going to get different personalities within a team.
In the past, I bowled at players like Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick.
I was fortunate to go out on my terms while still at the top but a lot of people are not so lucky.
Back in 2006-07 when we completed the first Ashes whitewash in 86 years, the historical significance didn't really filter in to our thinking. We didn't realise it at the time - we were just making amends for 2005.
You still have to enjoy the tour games. If you go out there and just go through the motions, you can easily get into bad habits, you lose a bit of rhythm or a bit of form and then things can go pretty bad pretty quickly.
I'm just very impressed with the way Jimmy Anderson goes about his business.
When you're playing in a good team where you're confident in yourself and your team-mates, when you've done the business before, it makes it so much easier.
Big wins in the first Test of an Ashes series polarise everything moving forward.
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