Read prepares to fill Stewart's boots

On his disappointment at getting out with a century in sight.
It was pretty hot and humid out there - it's got to be up there with the hottest conditions I've ever played in - so there was a lot of fluid loss that I'd had to fight through. I'd done the hard part, so it was a bit disappointing to give it away. I guess I was caught a little in two minds, but then again, I was pleased to spend some time in the middle.

On England's early batting collapse.
It was a timely innings to a certain extent, as there was some extremely low bounce on occasions, and when that's the case, clumps of wickets can fall at any time. But once you're in it's not so bad, as we proved with some useful partnerships between myself, Rikki [Clarke] and Gareth [Batty].

Those conditions can be pretty exhausting. But that's something we know we are going to face all over the world - here, in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Australia as well. But we're trying to become a fitter cricket team, and if we do that, then we'll be better prepared to cope.

On keeping wicket in these conditions.
Well, I guess if you break 90 overs a day down into three sessions, then that's not too bad - 15 overs an hour with the spinners operating as well, it isn't a massive ask. I'm enjoying keeping to the spinners, in fact. I imagine that, come the Tests, a lot of overs are going to be bowled by Gareth and Ashley [Giles], and obviously when we're batting we'll see a lot of overs against us as well. It's something we worked at, and it's all part of the gameplan.

On England's tough fitness programme.
We tend to go to the gym every other day for weights sessions, and the pool is always there to improve your flexibility and to get your body temperature down. And then, of course, there are the ice baths ... Nigel Stockill [the physiologist] has got us working hard. But we hope to be the best cricket team in the world by 2007, and as well as that, we hope to be the fittest. If we are the fittest, then we know we're giving ourselves every chance

On taking over the wicketkeeping duties from Alec Stewart.
Everyone knows that, whoever is to be the long-term replacement for Alec, he has to start making big runs straight away. Whether it's at No. 6, 7 or 8, he has to be a focal allrounder - those are big shoes to fill. And from my point of view it's going well so far. My aim in first-class cricket is to be as good as any top six batsman out there, but I've batted at 7 all my life and I feel comfortable there.

I've only had two warm-up games, so it's hard to tell whether I could be a No. 6 just yet. But I hope to develop my game to a point where, if the selectors ask me to bat at 6, I'll be able to do a job. The Australian side sets all the standards at the moment, and with Adam Gilchrist averaging 50-plus at No. 7, I don't think there's any hurry to push me up the order. At the moment I aim to stay there and make big partnerships with the allrounders Flintoff, Clarke and Collingwood. That's the structure of the side that we want.

On his technique against the spinners.
My feet movement felt good today. That was something that was prevalent at the [ECB] academy. Rod Marsh had simple rules - if you can get down on your feet and take the guy on the full toss or half-volley, then do so. If not, then wait for him to drop short and then play him off the back foot, or just defend it.

But with Duncan [Fletcher] there's a very different way of playing spin, with his theories on sweeping and forward presses. These are the bits and bobs I'd like to incorporate into my game, because out here especially, the sweep is so important. You have to be quick on your feet and disrupt the bowler's rhythm. I'll let him talk you through it one day!