It’s my job to keep it all in perspective

EVERY time you turn on the television in England they’re playing highlights of the 2005 Ashes on Sky.

It’s always on Fox Cricket at home. I remembered being enthralled by it at the time and it’s still gripping to watch. The drama, the heroes, the courage, the pace, the injuries, memories of that contest still burn bright.

I wasn’t born yet for 1981 but I know about what happened and I’ve watched highlights of that match at Headingley plenty of times.

It occurs to me that we are just three games into this series and already it feels as big as 2005. It’s had all the same elements.

The first Test was Steve Smith’s and the first innings of the next was shaping up to be the same before he was injured. Suddenly we were talking about that moment, that drama.

Then Jofra Archer was all over the front pages. At least until Josh Hazlewood came along and helped us bowl England out for 67.

Hazlewood was brilliant. Better in the first spells of the second innings than in the first.

And then Ben Stokes. What more can you say about that innings?

So much was going on you hardly noticed Nathan Lyon move past Dennis Lillee on the all-time wicket-taking list.

There’s no doubt we were disappointed to be on the losing end at Headingley, but it took an extraordinary performance to beat us and it needs to be kept in perspective.

Things happen pretty quickly in cricket. We were confident of winning that game until maybe the last 30 minutes and even then I thought we could do it.

As a captain it was my job to keep it all in perspective. As soon as we had congratulated England on the ground I raced up to the shower to gather my thoughts and prepare for the presentation ceremony. It was an important time for me. The adrenalin rush after a match like that is something else, I dealt with my own emotions and was calm by the time I’d put on fresh clothes.

When I walked out I noticed the look on the boys’ faces and it is fair to say some of them looked shattered.

That’s a good thing because I could see how much it meant to everyone, but I could see I had to say something to them.

I said it’s got to hurt, it’s disappointing that we let it slip from that position, but we need to keep it in perspective. It was half an hour that cost us. It is one-one in the series. We are exactly where we wanted to be. It could have been better, but we need to take the emotion out of it. You can let it hurt for a little while, but then we’ve got to be strong enough to own our mistakes and move on.

If we win the next game or the next then we keep the Ashes, possibly win the series. One small period of play can’t derail us.

I made mistakes and I told the boys that. You can’t live in denial. I’ve watched the last hour since and it wasn’t until later that it was obvious to me I saw some small things around field settings that I would do differently next time.

If I am willing to admit that to the boys, you allow others to do the same and then move on. Learn from it and leave it. The DRS is something we’ve got to keep working on and keep in perspective. I know I wasted the one to Jack Leach. It was a poor decision.

I’m proud of the way the group has handled this. I’ve played in teams that this would haunt and that would carry this forward but this one won’t.

Before the Headingley Test, Nathan Lyon said that this is the tightest team he has ever played with. Nathan’s played 89 Tests, so I think he knows what he is talking about.

Steve Waugh sent us a message the other day: sport doesn’t build character it reveals it. I like that.

I know that this team is in the middle of a great contest. I have a sense that this group will show exactly what they are made of and that setbacks like we experienced won’t affect the way they play. I told the boys that momentum doesn’t exist, that England haven’t packed it in their kits for the next game, it’s a new game of cricket ahead and the best team will win if they focus on their plans.

We’ve been focused on process not outcome the whole series and for maybe 30 minutes we wandered from that. We learnt our lesson and it won’t happen again.

We need to take the emotion out of it. You can let it hurt for a little while, but then we’ve got to be strong enough to own our mistakes and move on.