My call-up was a bit out of the blue. I hadn't played for England since 1994, and I hadn't had a great season for Essex. Having not been picked when I had bowled well in previous seasons, I didn't really expect it. I'd say the mood was fairly positive when we went out there. We knew Australia were a good side, but we'd just beaten South Africa and the squad were up for it. Our main focus was on how to play legspin. Peter Philpott gave us a lot of coaching on how to pick it: in the air, off the pitch, out of the hand. With Stuart MacGill [Shane Warne was injured and played only the last Test], we were told to wait for him, because you knew you'd get a bad ball. With Warne it was different, so you had to go after him a bit, like Hansie Cronje and VVS Laxman have done.

I think the key to this series, as it was for us four years ago, is whether we can score enough runs. The Aussies haven't played under pressure for a long, long time, and you can never be sure what will happen if they do. The batsmen need to be patient against somebody like Glenn McGrath - in 1998-99 we had a motto: "Look to leave, ready to play". The quality line the Aussies bowl means that you have to try and leave what you can, but always be in position for the stroke if necessary.

It didn't help us that we lost all five tosses. It made no difference at Brisbane - we'd have bowled anyway - or at Perth and Melbourne, but it certainly did in the other two. In the fifth Test at Sydney we batted last on a turner and Stuart MacGill got 12 wickets, and at Adelaide we fielded for a day and a half when it was nearly 50 degrees in the shade.

When I was picked for the Adelaide Test, I'd only played one first-class match on the tour - and that was five weeks earlier. It's the nature of modern touring that if you don't play in the Tests, you don't get any cricket, so having missed most of the early state games I did start to think, "Well maybe I'm not going to do too much here".

It sounds strange, but when you haven't played for a while things can feel quite alien, and they did on the first day at Adelaide. It's the little things, like where you stand, the angles of backing-up, how deep you should go as a fielder: you get so used to the nets that something doesn't feel right.

I bowled pretty well at Adelaide, even though we lost, and I was scheduled to play at Melbourne when Alex Tudor pulled out with a side strain on the eve of the match. Tudor was due to bat at No.7, but because they needed another seamer - Angus Fraser - we'd have had Dean Headley batting at 7. So Warren Hegg came in to strengthen the batting with Alec Stewart opening, and I was left out.

Melbourne was a magnificent victory for us, and there really was a great atmosphere. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't different when you're a non-playing member of the squad. The adrenalin is still flowing, but nowhere near as much as it would out in the middle. You certainly enjoy the celebrations, but not as much as if you'd played.

I was the only specialist spinner at Sydney, although Mark Ramprakash bowled a few overs, whereas Australia played three and it told in the end. Ashley Giles had just flown out with the one-day squad, and he almost played as well - he was in the XII ahead of Robert Croft, an original selection - but we settled on three seamers and myself.

For a spinner, the biggest thing about Australian pitches is bounce. People say spinners can't play at Perth - and I don't think Giles will - but you do get bounce there. In the last couple of years Australia have really tried to take spinners apart from the first ball, but you have to look at that positively - they give you a chance. I think you do have to adjust your tactics, and be a bit more defensive - there's no point having three close fielders if they're running down the pitch and hacking at it. The key is to be flexible: stupid as it sounds, you have to think of long-off and long-on as attacking fielders when they're going at you like that.

My record against Australia was fairly good [27 wickets at 32.00, better than Saqlain Mushtaq and Muttiah Muralitharan], and I always enjoyed the challenge of playing against them. I think that's because, in my time, you knew they would play properly and in orthodox areas. I was happy that you could set a field and you knew what you would get. They wouldn't start reverse-sweeping and swiping at you. Plus, of course, I did bowl pretty well against them ...

Peter Such was talking to Rob Smyth.

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