England have enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in Test cricket under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, going unbeaten so far this summer against New Zealand and India while playing a new brand of positive cricket which has been dubbed 'Bazball'.
With England completing four stunning second innings run chases in a row, players around the world have begun to take notice. India spinner Ravi Ashwin called it "amazing to watch" but also "scary", while Australia star Steve Smith looked to ramp up the Ashes mind games.
"I've watched a little bit of it, it's certainly been entertaining, they're coming out playing their shots," Smith said earlier this month. "Even someone like Alex Lees started to come down the wicket when he was on nothing really to play the way he played [against India].
"If you come on a wicket that's got some grass and Josh Hazlewood, [Pat] Cummins and [Mitchell] Starc are rolling in at you. Is it going to be the same? We'll see what happens."
However, England chief Rob Key has dismissed Smith's comments, insisting their game plan is "not about just going out there and being ultra-aggressive". He also said they want to "concentrate on what we can control now" instead of constantly looking to the future, something England were guilty of under the previous regime.
Speaking to LancsTV , Key said: "It's not about just going out there and being ultra-aggressive and what I've found really interesting was when we won against New Zealand, straight away it was like 'that won't work against India'.
"And there's every chance that it might all go wrong, but why are we getting so far ahead of ourselves? Let's focus and concentrate on what we can control now, which is very much Brendon and Stokesy's thing.
"Let's go out and entertain people today and not worry about the future. We've got our plans in mind and there's a hell of a lot of thought that goes into what these guys have done.
"And then we beat India and it's like 'this won't work against Australia' and okay it might not, but that's not an inspiring message to give. That's fine for everyone else to be talking about.
"But in our dressing room we've got to be talking about what people can do, how you can succeed, what is possible and not living in this world of 'you can't do this'."
