I have just completed a specialist training camp in Lahore for spinners and wicketkeepers and I found it all very helpful and was able to correct a few technical flaws.

I worked closely with the former Pakistan leg-spinner Intikhab Alam, while Tauseef Ahmed worked with the off-spinners and Rashid Latif worked with the keepers. Aquib Javed was also there.

We watched videos of my bowling and we were able to identify that my run-up was not right and what was going wrong, especially with my follow-through. I was not comfortable with my follow-through and was finishing in the danger area, too near the middle of the pitch. I put a new run-up into practice, watched it back on film and was able to feel much better about my bowling afterwards.

When you play cricket there is always a learning curve and always a need to make adjustments to your game. But only when you are not playing do you have the chance to really take a back seat and work on your technique. Sometimes it is impossible to see what is going wrong with your game until you watch your videos back and someone points it out.

Intikhab and the other coaches were not too concerned about the other aspects of my bowling and he was actually impressed with my variety of deliveries and said he has high hopes for me for the future, to win more matches for Pakistan, which is the only thing I have ever wanted to do.

It is for this reason that I went into the camp with a great deal of frustration having been demoted in the Pakistan Cricket Board contracts ratings system. It is still hurting me. I have been Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker for the last four years and am now one of the top three or four in terms of seniority having made my Test debut in 2001.

I have played 51 Tests now and once I pass Abdul Qadir’s 236 Test wickets, hopefully this year, I will then only have the fast bowlers ahead of me – Waqar Younis, Imran Khan and Wasim Akram. I just feel that achievement deserves a bit more respect. I am respected more when I play at Essex.

But now I find myself bracketed with players who have just come into the Pakistan system and behind players like Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif, who are great bowlers but have not been able to stay fit much in the last six months and have not played as much cricket as me. I am not complaining and frustrated for financial reasons, it is just an embarrassment for me and it pains me very much. I have spoken with the PCB but there does not seem to be any sign that my situation is going to change.

Officials have said that part of the reason for my demotion is that I only play Test cricket, but this is not my fault. I have always been desperate to be given a chance to prove myself as a wicket-taker in one-day internationals but never have had that opportunity on an extended basis. My behaviour has always been good on tours, I am rarely injured, what more do I have to do?

In one way I don’t feel I have to prove myself because I have shown what I can do already, but I am keen to prove people wrong and perform well against the very best when Australia arrive in March. I just keep praying that they will be able to travel to Pakistan as I am excited about the challenge.