Cricket: Intensity is back for beaten stars; Practice sessions help players regain their confidence.

Byline: By Myles Hodgson

MATTHEW Hoggard believes the intensity England have shown in their practice at the Adelaide Oval is proof they are ready to bounce back in the second Ashes Test.

Outplayed for the first three days of their 277-run opening-Test defeat in Brisbane, the tourists looked set for one of their most comprehensive defeats and faced the consequences it would have had on their morale.

But battling innings from Durham all-rounder Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen in the second innings lifted their spirits and Hoggard is confident they will deliver a more competitive display at the Adelaide Oval.

"We've had a good practice today, but we needed to. We didn't bowl well in the last game so everybody has upped the intensity and tried to get back into this Test series," he said.

"The last game didn't go too well just like the first Test in the last Ashes series, but England have shown good resolve in the past and an ability to bounce back and that's exactly what we need to do this time."

Stunned by the ferocity of Australia's response on the first day at the Gabba and gripped by nerves, Hoggard believes the 153-run stand between Shotley Bridge-born Collingwood and Pietersen could perhaps be the turning point.

"It didn't go according to plan at Brisbane but we showed good resolve and we showed that we can compete, especially in the last two days," he stressed.

"We batted well and it was important we put together some good partnerships with people like Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen.

"It wasn't an easy wicket to bat on and a lot of other teams in that situation could have been rolled over for 120 or 150, but we dug in and showed them we can play.

"We're here to fight and I think the England team has a lot of fighters in it. We've shown a little bit what we can do in the last two days and hopefully we can string it together for five days from Friday."

One of the main reasons for England's struggles in Brisbane was the failure of all but captain Andrew Flintoff from their attack to put Australia under pressure.

Yorkshire seamer Hoggard, a natural swing bowler, failed to get any swing in seemingly ideal conditions and at the end of the first day had unflattering figures of nought for 62 from 16 overs.

He recovered his composure with the help of the second new ball to remove Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist in the same over, but by then Australia were already in command of the match. He admitted: "We came to Australia expecting long, hard spells. The wickets are normally true with a true bounce and quite friendly towards the batsmen but it's not something new to us.

"We're going to have to bowl with a bit of patience, we're going to have to bowl better than we did at Brisbane and we're going to have to put the pressure back on the batsmen and make them work hard for their runs.

"There were too many four balls at Brisbane and we've looked at the areas we need to improve and hopefully we can put those plans into action on Friday.

"We know we were 10 or 20% below par at Brisbane and we need to lift our games and the intensity shown in the nets today showed the true spirit of this England side.

"We need to build up the pressure because we're not just going to blast people out and we've got to put the pressure back on the batsmen and make them work very hard for their runs." England are still considering the prospect of playing two spinners and bringing in Monty Panesar for his first Ashes Test, probably at the expense of Lancashire seamer James Anderson.

But their hopes will still hinge on main spearhead Steve Harmison rediscovering his form after a disastrous opening Test, but Hoggard believes two days of intensive practice has helped his new-ball partner.

"He was down here yesterday and he was back down here at 8.30 this morning putting in the hard yards and he's feeling good about his bowling now so I think we'll see a different Steve Harmison come Friday morning," added Hoggard.

"He's been hitting the bat hard and he said he was feeling good and he's feeling that everything is coming out well so I've got full confidence in him."

CAPTION(S):

IN HARM'S WAY: Steve Harmison is surrounded by cameras as he makes his way to a solo nets session yesterday.