SIR JAMES ANDERSON: This is how I’d get each of Australia’s batsmen out – including the trap I’d set for Steve Smith, the way to get in Marnus Labuschagne’s head and the reason Jofra Archer will be licking his lips on day one

No matter how much you try to block out the noise as an England cricketer, you are always aware of its presence in an Ashes series. Especially one hosted in Australia.

There is always more pressure on an Ashes series Down Under than any other simply because of the hype around it. And it gets into the bubble of your team because of the number of interviews that everyone's doing and the scale of the build-up. It's on every news channel, so it feels like it's much bigger than when you play the series in England.

You feel the pressure because of the expectations of other people – you’ve got thousands of fans travelling from the other side of the world, and it naturally makes it feel like there's a bit more on it.

Essentially, you just want to focus on the cricket, and try to block external stuff out. But there are other ways of dealing with it, too.

I remember at the start of the 2010-11 series, Jonathan Trott got incessant abuse on the boundary. But rather than let it get to him, he made a thing of it, acting as if he loved it.

He tried to interact with the Gabba crowd and he'd come back in from a break and write all the best one-liners he'd heard on the dressing room whiteboard. There was a particularly vulgar one about his mother which is pretty much unprintable. But he used humour as a coping mechanism, and then scored a lot of runs as well, which obviously helps.

Some players will read stuff, others not as much, and they’ll deal with it in different ways. But the bonus for England on this trip is that the headlines in the newspapers so far have been targeted at Brendon McCullum, Ben Stokes and Joe Root.

They are three people that can definitely deal with it by laughing it off. They do not need any more motivation. Take Joe, for example. Someone who is desperate to get a hundred in Australia. He is fully focused on scoring lots of runs and trying to win a series there.

Another thing that is different about the start of an Ashes series in Australia is the atmosphere.

In England, dressing rooms tend to be at ground level, and you'll have the doors open so that you can hear the hum and the buzz at places like Lord’s or Trent Bridge. It can help you get into the right frame of mind to play.

Whereas at the Gabba, where I played all my first Tests in Australia, you're underground, and then you come out from the tunnel and the noise from the crowd then hits you.

My first experience of an away Ashes was 2006-07, when Steve Harmison sent the first ball of the first Test straight into the hands of second slip. I was at mid-on, so I had a decent view of it.

I just thought: 'S**t, that’s not the plan.' Andrew Flintoff nonchalantly caught it, and threw it away, and I remember Harmy turning around with a sort of smile on his face. Obviously, you always want to set the tone for a match, but while I don't think the first ball of the Ashes is going to decide the outcome, it can make an impact.

Harmison’s delivery did. So, too, when Mitchell Starc bowled Rory Burns to start the series four years ago. You could feel it hit the mood of the dressing room.

On the other side of the coin, Zak Crawley at Edgbaston in 2023 had a positive effect on us, hitting the first ball for four. And you undoubtedly want to throw that first punch. The good players want to bowl that first ball. The good batters want to face it.

For me, whenever I played, regardless of it being the Ashes, I wanted the captain to throw me the ball in any situation. The responsibility of the first ball is what you want as an international cricketer.

If England bowl first on Friday morning, it'll be Jofra Archer taking the first over and he's someone who loves the big moments. We've seen it throughout his career, whether it's a World Cup or in red-ball cricket.

Everything will be set up nicely for him to start well. There will be a bit of grass on the wicket. It'll be bouncy. And it could be two left-handers opening for Australia – which is his absolute wheelhouse, he loves bowling at left-handers.

The fact we know it will be Archer emphasises that England have the advantage of being a settled team. Most teams that go to Australia unsure, come unstuck. For example, we got to the morning of the first game in 2021-22 and didn't know who was batting five, whether it was Ollie Pope or Jonny Bairstow. It almost felt like a flip of the coin.

This England group has been around for two years or more now, which means even the less experienced players are comfortable in the environment. The top seven has been set for a while and when you see someone like Josh Tongue missing out on selection, that's a real positive for England because I don't think Australia have got that depth currently in their bowling.

If England can start well in this first Test, then the question marks will really be on Australia. They have uncertainty across their top three and if the guys coming in for Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood don't get wickets, then there will be huge pressure on who they pick for the next game. There's many more cracks in the Australian squad than there are in England’s.

Starting well is huge and playing at Perth rather than a ground nicknamed 'The Gabbatoir' because of Australian dominance there is another huge positive. The Optus Stadium could really suit our bowlers, and potentially our batters as well. It's looking quite rosy at the minute. So, I am in confident mood.

MY GUIDE ON HOW TO DISMISS AUSTRALIA'S TOP SIX

Usman Khawaja

It completely depends on conditions, because if it's bouncy, then you'd be looking for a nick-off, and that's what Jofra will be doing. He naturally shapes the ball away to the left-hander.

So that's where my head would be if I were opening the bowling. I'd think: 'Right, I'm going to swing the first few balls away from him, see how much bounce is there, try to get a nick.'

But we've also seen Khawaja get out with the ball swinging back. Mark Wood at Headingley in 2023 stands out, when he bowled him through the gate.

Again, if the pitch is too bouncy, then that becomes less of a threat and the in-swinger becomes your change-up, your variation, and you've got to try to make sure you're on the money with it and you're hitting the stumps when you do bowl it.

Jake Weatherald

If you're coming up against someone that you've not seen much before, not bowled to, you go to what you're comfortable with as a bowler.

So, thinking of the conditions, the potential bit of bounce, I’d be looking to go across him, whether it's swing or wobble and just challenge his forward defence. Make him play with a straight bat and challenge him as much as possible.

It’s a debut in front of 60,000 people, so I would definitely be playing on those nerves. I know with this era of Bazball that Stokesy wants to hunt for wickets, but I still feel like there’s an element of ‘do not give him anything easy to hit early in his innings’.

Try to create pressure on him, assess the conditions. If it's swinging, then you can attack a bit more, but I'd just try to starve him of any scoring shots early on. Try to build that pressure on him and make those nerves even bigger.

Marnus Labuschagne

I'd be looking to challenge his forward defence. You don't want to get too straight on him, because he's strong off his legs, and he leaves well early on, so you don't want to be too wide. It's just finding an area where he's unsure.

Just challenge around that off stump, shape it away if there is some movement, and then get the odd one coming back, maybe for an lbw, even though he is more of a nick-off opportunity, especially at Perth, if it's bouncy.

Labuschagne's very chatty at the crease. He wants to be friends with everyone. So, you could plant a few seeds in his head: about his technique; question whether his bat is coming down straight, something like that. Ask him what he's been working on, 'because you don't look great'. Something like that.

Steve Smith

The real skill for a bowler is to work out what the risk-reward is for players. Are you happy to leak 15 runs in the first 20 balls with a chance of creating something, to get them out, because that is the period when most batters are the most susceptible.

This is especially relevant to someone like Smith. He’s someone who will be nervous and fidgety and you've got to try to hone in on that nervous energy and make him do something rash.

For both Smith and Labuschagne, I wouldn't be surprised if Stokes puts a leg slip in early, just to get it in their heads, and try and make them do different things at the crease. Throughout the series, I'm sure he will come up with a few left-field fields, to play with the Aussie batters’ minds. With a leg slip you just want to put it in the batter’s head that if they get too far across the stumps, then there's someone there.

So you're trying to keep them legside of it to bring the outside edge in more. Unlike with Labuschagne, I wouldn’t be saying too much to Smith, because from experience it makes him dig in more. Chirp at him and he knuckles down and plays better.

Travis Head

This could be a really interesting battle, actually, because he's someone who’s struggled with the short ball in the past. He's looked a little bit unsure on it. And with England's pace, it's something they might try early on. Head will be very aware of it and will be working on it.

Head has also had games where he's played the short ball very well, so if he can get through that first 20 balls of what I imagine will be quite hostile bowling, then he could be a massive player for Australia. Pivotal to them having any success.

This is where Mark Wood comes into things. I feel like he will be the one England will go to because – due to his height, or lack of it – his bumper is the hardest to get out of the way of, and he's also the fastest bowler. So, I imagine he'd be used in short spells.

Stokes is also good at bowling bumpers but I don’t want him to because he'll get into a 10-over spell and then… we know what happens when he does that. He's too skilful a bowler to be bowling bumpers.

Obviously, he could still bowl the odd short ball in a spell. But the amount that bowling relentless bouncers takes out of your body, when it's 100 per cent slamming it into the pitch pretty much every ball, would concern me.

He might get through it, but with his injury record in the last couple of years, I'd like to see him play on those skills he's got. He can swing the ball, he can nip it off the seam, and he hits good areas at good pace.

I'd lean on Brydon Carse, Jofra, and initially Woody before Stokes starts bowling the short stuff consistently.

Cameron Green

I’ve played against him a little bit. He’s a huge unit and a candidate for lbw or bowled early on. I’d recommend going slightly fuller at him and trying to nip it back.

I feel like there's a bit of Mitch Marsh in there – strong on anything back of a length, drives down the ground well.

He's obviously a good player. You’d just hope that he misses a straight one before he gets going.