Andrew Strauss will urge England to follow the example of 2005 and show an aggressive intent to Australia when this summer's Ashes series gets under way in Cardiff next week.

England believe the foundations for their stunning success four years ago were set in the first over of the series at Lord's when Steve Harmison whistled the first ball past Justin Langer's nose and struck a damaging blow to his elbow off the next delivery.

"That side of things in the first couple of games will be like the first couple of rounds in a boxing match," stressed Strauss. "People will be looking for signs for who's coming out on top so it will be important to grab momentum early but also both sides will be looking at each other and weighing each other up."

Harmison also hit Australian captain Ricky Ponting on the cheek as they were dismissed for 190 shortly before tea on the opening day and although the tourists claimed a comprehensive victory, the tone of the series had been set - England would not back down from a confrontation.

It is an attitude and temperament which current captain Strauss wants to repeat either with bat or ball when the 2009 series gets under way on Wednesday.

He added: "I think we know the type of cricket we needs to play to beat the Aussies, we just need to go out and play it.

"We've got our plans for how we're going to contend with the Aussies but there's no doubt that if you want to play well against Australia you have got to take them on and be prepared to scrap.

"Anybody who goes in there and just thinks 'oh no we'll just stick to our own game' are going to come unstuck. Our players are absolutely certain that they will go out there and go for blow for blow - there's a fine line between aggression and being over the top, so we have to check that line carefully."