Dawid Malan Ashes diary: Australian press poked fun at Jonny Bairstow before turning on their own team

Few sporting events generate such hype as an Ashes tour; our challenge is to cut through it all and perform.

The hype is everywhere. We were sitting at breakfast at our hotel in Adelaide when a complete stranger walked past our table and stopped for a moment.

“You guys are going to lose 5-0,” he said matter of factly and calmly went on his way.

The Australian newspapers are lively as well: when Jonny Bairstow suggested he may be only the third-best wicketkeeper in England, one of the local journalists said he must have forgotten Sarah Taylor, who wears the gloves for the England women’s team and concluded Jonny is actually the fourth best.

In recent days, the local media have been more interested in slagging off the squad Australia have selected for the First Test, starting on Thursday, which suits us very well. It won’t last. We know the guns will be turned on us before long. No problem. There will be many twists and turns in the days and weeks that lie ahead.

Our plan has been to prepare carefully and stick to our plan; the opposition in our three warm-up matches may not have been particularly strong but we have been gradually increasing the intensity of our performances, working towards the first ball on Thursday at The Gabba, in Brisbane.

It’s the coaches’ day on Tuesday, so there will be a tough 45-minute fielding session followed by a full-on net practice and then on Wednesday, the eve of the Test, each player will be allowed to prepare precisely as he sees fit, doing exactly what he feels is necessary to be ready. All said and done, cricketers remain individuals playing a team sport.

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The mood on tour is really calm and relaxed. We went paint-balling on one day off and many of us played golf on another down day. Jimmy Anderson is by far the best golfer in the squad, playing off a handicap of six or seven, and any team-mate claiming to play off 15 or 16 would generally be ill-advised to win the match.

Jimmy personifies the competitive spirit we know we will need to show. We were being written off a few weeks ago. The Australians are being written off now. There will be times when we get on top and times when we will need to dig deep but we won’t ever lack fight — that’s a promise. We can’t wait.