The lobby at the Taj Samudra hotel most days resembles an upmarket version of New Delhi railway station. There's a seemingly endless throng of people - players, ICC officials, hotel staff, journalists, cameramen, autograph-hunters, and other guests (presumably not cricket fans) who stare in amazement at the circus going on around them. As Ronnie Irani hinted in a column in The Guardian, it won't be too much of a surprise if some players leave Colombo with mild facial palsy and excessive wear and tear to the right arm and shoulder. Matthew Hoggard, who pops down at lunchtime, clearly isn't fazed by it all, though and his smile is as broad - and genuine - as ever. He has a livid, red wound just below the left knee, the sort that you don't look at too long with lunch approaching. "Got it fielding on the boundary against Zimbabwe," he tells you. "Me trousers just split clean open, like this," he says with an expansive gesture.

He thanks you when you compliment him on the excellent spell against Zimbabwe before adding, "It was bloody hard work." There is a hint of that broad smile when he talks about the India game on Sunday. "Aye, we've had some good tussles recently, haven't we? We're looking forward to it." Both Hoggard and Irani, who passes on his way out to lunch with some other Essex bloke called Hussain, got just the right amount of movement against Zimbabwe. India, who were bailed out by Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif in their opening match, would do well to be wary.

What does he think of batting though? "It's easy, innit?" Confident words from a man who isn't exactly Tendulkar-class with the willow. "Well, I mean, you just stand there and thwack it for four. Bowling's much harder. If you're hit for four, you have to turn right back and do it all over again. Ain't easy in this heat, I can tell you."

Those that whine about the money players make would do well though to look at their itineraries. England return home for a couple of weeks after this tournament, but once they fly out to Australia in early November, it'll be close to Easter before they see home and hearth again. Hoggard missed the last Ashes series with a stress fracture in his foot ("I was lucky, weren't I?" he says with a grin), but is raring to go this time. Unlike last year, when the players flew home from India for the season of good cheer, this year's turkey will have a Victorian flavour to it. "Can't see much time for parties," Hoggard tells you with a smile, "not with the Boxing Day Test and another one that starts January 2."

England won the last time they played in Melbourne, on the back of a marvellous spell from Dean Headley. "Did we now?" Hoggard asks, with a puzzled air. "Well, let's just hope we do something similar this time round," he says before jumping up and heading for the restaurant. The injury? "Not a problem," he tells you with a smile. "I'll be there Sunday." India's batsmen can only hope that on this given Sunday, his efforts fall a few inches short.

An Adidas commercial to promote Euro 2000 featured the old apartment block in Marseilles' Le Castellane where Zinedine Zidane grew up, with the words "We all come from somewhere". As Hoggard walks into the distance, you reflect on those words and tell yourself, "Aye, we all come from somewhere, but it helps if you hail from a place where tall poppies aren't encouraged too much." Wounded knee notwithstanding, England's pace spearhead has his feet firmly on the ground.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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