Ashes: England will follow the Kiwi and Indian formula of years past as their plan to beat the Aussies

It’s not bodyline but it might be the next best thing – England know they don’t have the artillery to blast Australia out of the Ashes, so they’ll try and smoke them out instead.

The Poms will look to frustrate Smith. Picture: Getty Images

Ben Stokes shouted “Steve Smith’’ when he took his first wicket of the tour and the echo which floated around a sparse oval could reverberate through the Ashes summer.

It wasn’t a sledge because Smith was nowhere in the vicinity.

The dismissal and Stokes’ instant summation of it were an insight into England’s Plan A this summer.

Bowl straight. Keep it tight. Take the off-side out of play.

If Smith or anyone else is going to make a hundred make sure they have to bat all day.

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Stokes’ first wicket came in a trial match at Ian Healy Oval where squad-mate Zac Crawley flicked a straight ball off his hip to be smartly caught at leg gully.

Prepare to see that ball – and plenty like it - delivered hundreds of times this summer at Smith in particular and most of the remaining Australian top order.

The straight ball sounds like the most basic and unglamorous of all deliveries but it was India’s not-so-secret weapon last summer and England have taken note.

The Poms will look to frustrate Smith. Picture: Getty Images

Two summers ago New Zealand were beaten 3-0 by Australia in Australia but Indian coach Ravi Shastri noted how the exceptional Smith was restricted to 241 runs at 42 and was intrigued by how the Kiwis put the clampers on.

He contacted New Zealand management and was told that apart from a healthy diet of short balls from Neil Wagner the Kiwis decided to give Smith nothing outside off stump.

Take the glide, the back foot crunch, the cover drive out of play and stack your leg-side field.

If done well it becomes cricket’s version of The Big Squeeze.

India figured it was not simply a good plan for Smith but the rest of the top order.

And so it was.

Travis Head, to his credit, addressed the challenges of this game plan used by New Zealand and India.

He said on Monday that he worked on technical changes to his game to open up his technique and not get tucked up by balls on the body.

Marnus Labuschagne also had to change his technique to cope with it. He still scored 426 at 53 against India last season but nothing was easy.

Marnus still found success despite the tactics. Picture: Getty Images

He went to England then realised he had to change his technique again because of English conditions and their bowlers were different from what he faced from the Indians.
When speed machine Jofra Archer looked like touring, England had a grand dream of levelling Australia with pure pace.

Archer on a green Gabba deck could have been an enthralling sight.

Without him they still have the pacy Mark Wood but the basis of their attack is likely to be swingmen and seamers who must find a way to turn containment into a weapon.

The Gabba deck, under water for much of the past month, looks back to its traditional state and is likely to be a slowish seamer, initially for the first day.

England’s team remains a mystery and the tourists are reportedly agonising over whether they can play both veteran pacemen, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.