I do enjoy batting - if the bowling's not quick!
If you are playing in the right conditions, there is always motivation to bowl fast. If you are playing in the wrong condition then you want to be a batsman.
The start of the English county season - from April to mid-May when it's cold - is the same as South Africa because it seams and swings. After that, the ball starts spinning nicely, and that's when I get my wickets.
The wickets I have played on for my whole career, most of them have been to suit fast bowlers in Australia.
Sri Lankan wickets may not be conducive for fast bowling, but it doesn't mean that the quicks can't get wickets there.
In white-ball cricket the conditions do vary, but throughout Tests it varies a lot more in a five-day game, and home advantage becomes more prevalent in Test cricket.
I don't want a new ball when I am bowling in the subcontinent. I want an old ball that can't get hit out of the ground. I want a ball that when I bowl doesn't have true bounce, so that the batsman can't hit it.
When I watch a match, I always try to understand what the batsman is trying to do so that I know what I should do to get him out.
The thing I've got to concentrate on for South Africa is bowling at good pace and if the ball is in the right area that will cause enough trouble.
Growing up, I played on matting wickets. I always enjoyed the pace and bounce and somewhere that has a big role or big effect on your game.
On Edens Gardens pitch, nobody bowls well.
It was my wish to play in the challenging conditions in Australia. I love the bounce there.
As a fast bowler if you're not going to bowl well on a Perth wicket you're going to struggle in Australia.
I don't mind which wicket you play on - wet, dry, slow, or fast. I just want to play cricket.
Bowling in sub-continental conditions is not easy for a fast bowler. You have to be consistent and persistent to succeed, especially when you are bowling to the likes of Sangakkara, Mahela, Samaraweera, and Dilshan.
You so often see bowlers pick out a lovely new ball from the bag at nets and it looks great when it swings in the air and nips off the seam with batsmen playing and missing. But you have to simulate match situations. What about when the ball is 60 overs old, the sun is blazing down, the pitch is flat and there's not a hint of movement?
Great fast bowlers don't have to worry about whether the track is flat or green. They'll find a way to get wickets.
Those first few overs are obviously the most difficult time because you don't know what the ball is going to do in the air and off the seam.
As bowlers, we don't worry about the wickets, whether they are flat or not.
If you don't have bounce on the pitch, even a spinner cannot come handy.
I'd love to see pitches start very dry all over the world, which is good for batting but means there will be turn - a cricket match without spinners is like a chess match without two important pieces - a less interesting game.
I played a couple first-class matches at Carlton and Guaracara Park and it was a real burial ground for the fast bowlers.
Every wicket you play on is different.
The Oval has always been a good batting track, and there's not much for the bowlers.
Spinners are a funny breed. If they're playing on seaming pitches they moan and if they're about to play on real 'Bunsen burners' they reckon the pressure is on them.
