Australia coach Darren Lehmann says Australia ready to atone for recent Ashes defeat Darren Lehmann: calm before the storm. I FELL in love with the Ashes when I was seven years old. I can still remember watching in awe on television in Whyalla when David Hookes smacked five boundaries in a row off Tony Greig in the Centenary Test at the MCG. That was it for me. I had my hero and I had a sport which I wanted to try. Soon after I went out the backyard and even tried to bat just like Hookesy. I am sure thousands of other Aussie kids did the same. Many years later when I met Hookesy I asked him how he felt about those five fours and he said "I was disappointed I didn't hit six." That over shaped my life and it still reminds me how a great performance can lure fresh young faces to the game. Hopefully there will be more moments like that this summer. It excites me that the Gabba is just about sold out for the first three days. I have been to a number of cricket functions over the past week, from my children's schools to others where Ashes legends like Ian Botham and Allan Border were in attendance and could feel a special buzz which is unique to the Ashes. We want to play good hard, uncompromising cricket that the Australian public can be proud of and we want to maintain Australia's record of being unbeaten at the Gabba since 1989. You can bank on a great wicket at the Gabba because Kevin Mitchell Jnr is such a fine curator. I am really happy with our preparation. All the lads have either made runs or taken wickets. After the Ashes we wanted performances on the board for Australia and domestically. They have done everything we asked. It is great to have "the family" back together. I feel we have learned a lot from what happened in England and we have to rectify that here in Australia. We want to play an aggressive brand of cricket. The Gabba always brings back memories of my most bizarre Ashes experience when I faced my brother-in-law Craig White, who played for England, for the first time in a Test. I had been out of the Test scene for almost four years and the first ball I faced in my comeback Test was delivered by Craig. It was an eerie feeling. Both sides of the family felt awkward about it. My wife Andrea told me beforehand that I was not allowed to score any runs off her brother but he was not allowed to get me out. She reckoned that was a fair deal. Craig and I had regular eye contact during that innings and both of us laughed at the sheer strangeness of it all. Everyone says the Ashes can often be shaped by the first session or the first ball but I have never quite gone along with that. It is not so much winning the first moment as the big moments. It must be said there have been major early moments which shaped Gabba Tests such as Michael Slater's first ball cut for four off Phil DeFreitas and when Steve Harmison barely hit the pitch with his first ball here in 2006-07. I watched that moment live. I was in the Cricketer's Club as part of my role as ACA president and I recall having an enjoyable and relaxing day. No such luxury today. I will, however, still have a quiet beer at the end of the day. Players are under no pressure to have a drink but I do feel it is important for us to spend time together after stumps. I don't care whether they drink a Gatorade or a Coke but it is important that we talk about the game together. It's amazing how the same drop can taste so much better if you've had a good day. Enjoy the ride folks. We will try to do you proud.