I think when two people get together, their past is their past. Their reputations are reputations. You can only take someone the way you find them… on face value. I think that was how we were both, the way we were.

My only problem is the fear that opposition bowlers might go for my fingers and that’s why I was scared of the short ball. Now I am struggling with the ball pitching up and swinging away. I just keep nicking that one.

I have been trying to lose weight for the last two-three months and it has gone really well. In the last 6-12 months I have been in the best form in quite a while.

It was bloody difficult getting followed around all the time.

The wickets I have played on for my whole career, most of them have been to suit fast bowlers in Australia.

Four hundred wickets is 400 more than I thought I’d get.

I suppose my look, the way I play – you combine all that sort of stuff and that makes people interested in what I actually do. So then, when off-the-field stuff happens… I suppose it’s one of those cocktail mixes.

We played well in Kenya. We didn’t lose a game and we bowled Pakistan out for 100 twice. We don’t need to change much from that for this tournament.

I think when two people get together, their past is their past. Their reputations are reputations. You can only take someone the way you find them… on face value. I think that was how we were both, the way we were.

I think we have got the wood on South Africa, but that does not mean they are not a good team. They intimidate a lot of teams but we intimidate them. There is no disrespect for South Africa; they are a very good team.

My life was falling apart and then to come out and play and have my best ever – 40 wickets, 250 runs… But the only reason I could do that was because of the way I thought and I think I’m pretty strong mentally. I think I am anyway, pretty strong to get over whatever it is.

All my coaches tell me that I have been under achieving.

The first thing is to be patient, which is probably the hardest thing to do. Don’t worry if blokes are whacking you out of the park because you still have the opportunity to get him out next ball, even if it’s not the same ball.

I’ve slept with a couple of people and made some poor choices and put things in jeopardy with… what I was happy with, and that’s my own fault. I’ve got no one else to blame about that stuff.

With just about every player in Australia, his whole goal and ambition is to play for Australia. That’s why they’re playing first class cricket. It’s just a different attitude.

The reason why I have lost weight is that I looked at the international schedule and thought that I wanted to play for another two years. It is a very hectic schedule and if I want to get through that then I have to be in the best shape that I can.

I just play because I love playing and I try and take as many wickets as I can.