Ashes 2013-14: we were horrendous, truly embarrassing, admits England wicketkeeper Matt Prior We have taken flak for it and rightly so. There are times as a sportsman you have to be honest. You cannot turn away from it and make excuses or look for positives. We were horrendous and there have been honest chats and words spoken. But there is no point dwelling on it. People know they messed up. You have to look at why they messed up, what was going on and why we made those mistakes, then learn from it and move forward. In this situation it is not up to coaches, backroom staff or support staff. They can help you only so much. Ultimately you have to step over the line as a player and take the performance out in the middle. I have probably netted more over the last 10 days than at any other time in my career. But I walked out in the first innings and made nought. Just because you do the hard work in the nets does not mean you are going to score runs. That is what I mean about enjoying and embracing the challenge out in the middle. Ultimately it was still not good enough, but in the second innings there were signs of how we can improve. Joe Root looked at home going in at three in a tricky position. He played superbly. He showed awesome temperament and looked like a guy who had played 80 Tests. He handled all their bowlers well and took it in his stride. It was unfortunate he got out because he deserved a hundred. I went out to bat in the second innings with talk about my place in the side. The only thing I have ever wanted is to be the best option for England. If I am underperforming and there is someone out there better than me then it is up to me to pull my finger out. You cannot worry about being dropped. All I can worry about is trying to be the best player I can and help us turn around the dismal position we are in at the moment. You have to keep your belief. Everyone in this dressing room has been in a dark place and knows the feeling of walking out to bat thinking, "I don't know what is going on." But you have to work hard and have faith it will change around. I have a lot of belief in my game and the other factor is that batting is only one part of my role in the team. It is a big part and I have to score runs. I understand that responsibility, but the keeping and being a senior player are important aspects as well. You feel vulnerable at the start of an innings so you have to put out of your mind what has gone on before. There was no point walking out to the wicket in the second innings thinking I have averaged 12 this year. You cannot go out there thinking of the past. You have to keep the game simple: get through first ball and then the second ball. That does not mean blocking everything. Sometimes you have to be proactive and put pressure back on the bowler. It was nice on Sunday night being out in the middle and fighting my corner having faced 60 or 70 balls. It was not necessarily the score on the board. It was the fact I had fought hard and started to find some rhythm, back out in the middle. It was actually good fun and why I play the game: the crowd getting behind Mitchell Johnson, the Aussies on fire, and Broady getting stuck in. That is when you have to stand there and say, "I love this." If you get through it, you walk off thinking it was good fun. You cannot lose that feeling. If you do it is time to walk away. I will be honest and say the Australians have played good cricket. The bowlers have bowled well, the batters have knuckled down and made big hundreds. They have fielded brilliantly. They have taken half-chances. David Warner's catch to dismiss Michael Carberry in the first innings in Adelaide was the kind of thing we usually pride ourselves on; taking half-chances that change a Test match. That is the kind of thing you have to do to win big series. This team are hurting and we are not laughing it off. I do not want people to think we are taking it lightly. We are being criticised as a group and rightly so but it is up to us to change it round.