England coach insists they will NOT back down to Australia after Steve Smith sends pre-Ashes warning

England will not temper their attacking tactics despite Steve Smith’s pre-Ashes warning that Australia is no place for flat-track bullies.

Marcus Trescothick, one of England’s assistant coaches, reckons that the method shown by Harry Brook in striking a stunning 135 when confronted by a capricious Mount Maunganui pitch, moving ball and horror scoreboard earlier this week is the one to adopt if pitches across the Tasman Sea do favour the bowlers.

‘Personally, and we've sort of lived by this sort of play really, if the wicket’s doing a little bit more, and it's going to continue to do that for a good period of time, if you just sit in and try to scrap through, okay, fair enough,’ said Trescothick.

‘The people with really good defensive techniques and methods of leaving the ball really well, can work. There's no doubt about it.

‘But you know, as we've seen in the past here when we played down in Wellington, when the ball was doing plenty, Harry Brook came out, played in that fashion, was really aggressive and it came off really well.

‘When ball is dominating bat, then you know, trying to be aggressive and put pressure on is something that we do really well.’

Smith, speaking after being confirmed as Australia’s captain for the first Test in Perth in the absence of back injury victim Pat Cummins, warned:

‘Conditions are going to be different here in Australia, aren't they? I think the last three or four years, it's probably been as challenging for batters as we've seen in a long time, particularly the top-order batters.

‘We've got some guys that will be able to exploit the conditions. The bowlers are experienced, very good at what they do. It's going to make for hard work for the batters.’

Smith has deputised for Cummins on half a dozen occasions since 2021, winning five matches, including the floodlit Test in Adelaide on the last Ashes tour.

The 36-year-old’s personal returns also go up when wearing the armband against England: he has three hundreds in six appearances and an average of 112.