I went on two tours of Australia, in 1986-87 and 1990-91, but for obvious reasons the first trip sticks in my mind rather more clearly than the second one. In 1986, I was just a junior member of the squad. I'd played a couple of Tests the previous summer, but really I was in Australia to learn from the others and develop my game. I did fairly well in the warm-up matches, and so when my big break came I felt pretty confident and ready to take the step up. I had spent the previous winter playing Sheffield Shield cricket for South Australia, so I was fairly well used to Australian conditions … but local knowledge counted for little in front of 75,000 hungover Aussies in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne! I was picked as a late replacement for Graham Dilley for the fourth Test - so late in fact that Mike Gatting only gave me half-an-hour's notice before play began. He just walked past me on the way to the toss and said: "Oh by the way, Gladys, you're in." I guess I didn't have time to shit myself!

It was an extraordinary session of play as we'd been in a bit of trouble with injuries in the lead-up to the match. Apart from Dilley, Ian Botham had needed painkillers to get over an injury to his intercostal muscles, though in his typical way, he'd said: "Of course I'm going to bloody play!" But then the pair of us took five wickets each as the Aussies collapsed for 141. It was a good toss to win as the pitch was slightly damp, but I was lucky enough to get a good start and went on from there. I had a bit of banter with Bay 13 as well which fired me up. It was nothing out of the ordinary, mind, as I'm pretty mild-mannered at the best of times. After all, Australia were 1-0 down with two to play, and we fully expected the crowd to rally round their team and bait the Poms.

After we'd won that match - and I'd been named Man of the Match as well - the celebrations really kicked in. In fact they more or less continued into January and beyond, as we went on to lose the fifth and final Test. I guess the joys of Sydney at New Year were too good to ignore!

It was the confidence of the side that carried us through that tour - it was a great party to be a part of, and it was a testimony to Gatt's style of leadership that we all felt part of the package. I started out with a few injury niggles, but throughout I was made to feel one of the boys, and by the end I had become the leading wicket-taker in all first-class matches.

It was after that defeat that the Australian hierarchy decided that enough was enough. Their thinktank set up the academy system, so that from club and district level the best players were channelled directly to the top. Allan Border also came into his own as a tough, deep-seated captain, and they developed a more settled side, built around the likes of Steve Waugh - and later Mark. By the time I set off on my second tour in 1990-91, they were ready for us.

We simply never got into that series. It was surprising, as we had had a good tour of West Indies in 1989-90, winning the first Test in Jamaica, but when Graham Gooch got injured early on in Australia, it was very disheartening. There were also one or two altercations about how the tour should be run, and that did not help the morale of the side.

Australia is a great place to play and tour, but in the course of our four-month tour I can only remember having four complete days off - not including days put aside for travelling. It was very demanding, especially when the results started going against us, and I don't think many of us enjoyed the tour a great deal. That incident with David Gower and the Tiger Moth - that stemmed directly from frustration. If you want to have a winning side, you have to lighten up a bit.

England have not had a wonderful start to the current tour, but then again, neither did we in 1986-87. But I never take much stock of the early games - those wickets in Perth are so different to anything you'll find anywhere else in the world, and the bowlers need time to acclimatise before you can start criticising too much. But the one thing that will be a worry is the number of injuries in the squad. Nasser Hussain would like to have a full complement of players all challenging for tour positions at the moment.

The current Australian side are quite possibly the best team ever to play Test cricket, and I am a big fan of their attacking style - they always play to win. England need to emulate that attitude and go at them toe-to-toe. For 18 months now, Duncan Fletcher and Nasser have been putting together a decent unit, and with Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan, they have the batsmen capable of intimidating the Australian bowlers. I remember the first day of last summer's series, when Michael Slater attacked Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick right from the start. He gave them no respect at all, and that created doubt in the bowlers' minds.

But I honestly believe England have got a chance, and they will no doubt have been given a fillip by Mark Waugh's retirement. He was a truly top-class player, one of the few I would leave my bar stool to watch. I am certain his absence will bring a smile to one or two of England's bowlers.

Gladstone Small was talking to Andrew Miller

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