Our focus at the end of the test in Melbourne was to try and avoid a whitewash and when we arrived in Sydney late last Saturday we were positive we could achieve this. Sydney is a city that can lift your spirit. It's a very cosmopolitan and energetic place with a familiar European feel to it. There's something very unique about Sydney which separates it from the other Australian cities we've visited, so a refreshing feel spread through the team. There was also the small matter of celebrating the New Year in Sydney to look forward to so the mood was optimistic. The ECB booked a great restaurant in Darling Harbour that had a great view of the bridge and the fireworks. The display was spectacular and it was great to see the whole squad and families enjoying themselves. We had a really great time, and of course it means I can now cross one more thing off my "things to do before I die" list!

All in all, when the final test started you wouldn't have known from the mood of the players that we were 4-0 down in the series . . . confidence was high and it seemed it would meet our preparation head on. Fred won the toss and we elected to bat. Again we were off to a solid start reaching 150-2 before a rash shot from KP sparked a collapse. It took Fred's first major batting contribution of the series to get us up to 291 which wasn't a great score. We then had Australia in some trouble at 180-5 before Gilchrist, Warne and the tail wagged to get them up to 393.

Our second innings started badly when Cook was caught and Strauss was dealt a sickening blow to the back of the head by Brett Lee. He battled on but was dismissed eventually by Stuart Clark. At close of play we were just 12 runs in front with only KP, Read and the tail to come.

We talked in the morning about batting around Kevin. We were confident he could pull something special off but after he was dismissed third ball we faced the fact that the whitewash was looming.

We duly got bowled out for 147 and the Australians knocked off the 46 they needed with little alarm.

This game saw the end of three great test careers in the Australian side as Justin Langer, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath are hanging up their boots.

These three guys have been an integral part of the best side by far of this generation. It will be interesting to see how they get on going forward. Whenever Australia was in trouble Warne and McGrath invariably got them out of it and when the scent of victory was in the air they often took the crucial wickets.

Warne especially will be missed as there is no obvious replacement out there. A good example of a game which Australia would never have won without Warne was the Adelaide test where he removed Strauss and Pietersen and turned a certain draw their way. It will leave a massive hole which, hopefully, Australia won't be able to fill too easily!

It's not difficult to see why Australia won this series, but it is hard to know why we underperformed for large parts of it. They bowled, batted and fielded better than we did and whenever it became tight, as it did in every test except Brisbane, they always found one or two guys to take the game away from us. I have to give a special mention here to their bowling attack which was both disciplined and aggressive from the outset. Clark, who we thought might be a weak link, ended up being possibly their best player and typified their aggressive approach.

Fortunately we can still salvage something from the trip. The one day series starts with a 20:20 game on Tuesday.

Some of the squad will be leaving us, with some one day specialists coming on board. We play four games each against New Zealand and Australia. Even though our recent one day form hasn't been great we're still gunning to do well and reach the final. Fred is now bowling which should allow us to pick an extra batsman. Hopefully that batsman will be an Irishman by the name of Joyce, and I can leave my subfielding days behind me. But the probable return of Michael Vaughan could spell another 12th man stint for me.

Before I sign off from my first Ashes series I'd like to give a special mention to the ever barmy Barmy Army. They are without doubt the best supporters I have come across (outside Ireland of course).

Their encouragement and sense of humour helped get us through a pretty disastrous series. Right to the end they were as loud and proud as ever singing 'The Final Countdown' and 'Don't Look Back in Anger' as Australia batted their way into the history books. It put the whole series into perspective. We simply have to move on from here and get better.