will be honest. You want to contribute in the big series and I cannot remember having two such quiet games in a row for at least the past 10 years. I feel like I have always contributed at some stage. But I do not think I am bowling particularly badly; I am just going through a lean patch, which you do not want to happen in an Ashes.
It comes with the territory at my age for people to speculate about my future. I am saying lean patch but it is only two games out of 181. But I understand. It is a high-profile series and you get put under the spotlight a bit more and the easy target is to say he is getting on a bit. But the reason I have not taken wickets is not because of my age.
I am not thinking about the future. The future for me is just thinking about Thursday and the start of the next Test. That is as far ahead as I will look. I have said it before, even when doing well, that I do not look too far ahead. I will just try to work as hard as I can before Thursday. If I get the nod, I will put in a performance the team need. If not, I will keep working hard and play a role at some stage across the series.
When you look at both games, a couple of chances have gone down off my bowling early on. Cricket is a game where if you take a couple of wickets with the new ball then your confidence goes up early and it can turn out to be a completely different match for you. I feel like a bit of luck, a little bit of something to go my way, and things will change quickly for me. I know I still have the ability to put in match-winning performances for this team and will keep working hard to come out the other side after a quiet couple of games.
When things are going badly for you everything goes wrong. The two catches I dropped should have been taken. Lord’s is not the easiest “seeing” ground but I would expect to take both.
I am not going to criticise the pitch again. They have not suited me so far but I have found ways of getting wickets in the past on flat pitches. At the moment I am just not finding that knack.
