Hoggie's Down Under Diary

In the third of a regular

series, England cricket

hero Matthew Hoggard

gives his view on cricket,

beer and life. This week

he reports from Down

Under as the Third Test

against the Aussies

approaches.

It's almost impossible to describe the atmosphere of dejection in the England dressing-room after our defeat in the second Test in Adelaide. We had played really well for most of the game and had still been harbouring hopes of pushing for a victory as we went into the last day's play. And then to throw away everything we had worked so hard for in just a few hours of madness... it really hurts.

There was an even greater sense of disappointment for me after I had taken seven wickets in Australia's first

innings. I received many compliments about my

performance - I'm not one for blowing my own trumpet, but that was definitely one of the most satisfying

performances of my career. The conditions were all in the batsman's favour and when it's like that, as a bowler you just have to keep plugging away and be patient. It was especially pleasing for me to dismiss Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey when they had been playing so well.

But talking about personal performances feels wrong after the whole thing went so spectacularly badly for the team.

But as fed-up as we were, we still had a beer with the Aussies in the dressing-room after the game (specially imported bottles of Pedi, I hasten to add!). It's not easy to do that when you've just been beaten, but it's part of the spirit of the game and for many players the camaraderie is the best thing about playing cricket for a living.

The Aussies were criticised by some of their former players for being too friendly with us during the 2005 series in England, when we won the Ashes. As a result, I think they're determined not to be too matey out on the field this time. In particular, our wicket-keeper Geraint Jones has been getting some stick from Shane Warne. Geraint's family live in Brisbane and his dad was quoted criticising Warney in one of the local papers. So when Geraint came out to bat in Adelaide, Warney was asking where his dad was and whether he'd be coming out to the middle to help him!

And I can assure you of one thing - we won't be giving up on the Ashes just yet. The match in Adelaide showed us that, whatever the state of the game, there are always twists and turns in the tale. There are three matches left and if we win two and draw one, we'll retain the Ashes. There's still a long way to go in this series.