What you don't want from a player is to walk off and say 'that's the way I play.'

I always used the media - if people were having a go I could use it as motivation to prove them wrong.

I believe we should come down very firmly on the guilty without infringing the civil liberties of the innocent, like publishing mobile phone bills.

I play hard and I play to win, and my team play for me because of the backing I show them.

My philosophy is to respect the opposition off the field and play it as tough as possible on it.

The Australians are a weird bunch - until the cricket starts they're really friendly, saying 'good luck' all the time, but the moment the cricket begins they have a real go at you.

Every player needs to be aware of the levels of fitness needed to play international cricket.

Being awarded the OBE was a great honour and something I had not been expecting.

Test match cricket is about individual brilliance.

When I first came into the England one-day side and joined the selectors, I wanted to move away from picking what some people called the bits-and-pieces to the best batsmen and bowlers.

I'm not naive and realise it doesn't make good commentary or sell newspapers if you only say nice things, and the time does come when you have to say someone isn't good enough and has to go. But commentators like Richie Benaud have shown that criticism can be made in a constructive or humorous way.

I'm never going to have a Test average of 50 like Tendulkar. All I want to be is the best that I can be.

It sounds sycophantic, but I don't think I have met anyone in cricket who gives so much to a team as Marcus Trescothick does to England.

A captain has to be able to look a player in the eye before he starts his run-up or goes out to bat.

Edgbaston is a ground where you have to think on your feet because it can vary so much from season to season or session to session.

There is nothing worse after a long car journey than to have to go to meetings.

It was Test cricket as it should be played, when the irresistible force in Allan Donald met the immovable object in Mike Atherton at Trent Bridge in 1998. And I was happy to watch from the best seat in the house - at the other end.

I want to captain England in more Tests than anyone else.

Seems to me the rules are loaded against batsmen. If bowlers show dissent after a near miss they never seem to get punished.

Michael Atherton's powers of concentration never cease to amaze me. When you need reminding what Test-match batting is all about, who else would you have at the other end?

There is too much cricket being played. You need time away to get your mind in order to reach the optimum level.

In every sport you need a break and England seem to be the only cricket country which doesn't get one.

People shouldn't underplay what the breaking up of a team does in every department.

Everywhere in life people are in authority to make decisions and you have to abide by them, whether right or wrong.