ENGLAND cricket supporters who are wondering how they are going to stay awake during the middle of the night to watch the Ashes will not thank me for saying this – but Steven Finn was spot on when he suggested the way to beat the Aussies is to bore them into submission.

The Middlesex man believes his best chance of dismissing Ricky Ponting and Co is to grind them down on the batsman-friendly pitches of Oz.

For such a young player, Finn has an incredibly astute and mature head on his shoulders.

So, instead of firing the first delivery of the contest into second slip’s hands, a là Steve Harmison, England’s battery of fast bowlers need to maintain a disciplined line and length.

Players like Ponting, Mike Hussey and Shane Watson thrive on the short stuff and, if they are not careful, the tourists could easily find themselves on the back foot.

But if they keep the Aussie scoring in check, the wickets will come and, all of a sudden, the pressure is heaped on to the Baggy Greens.

And discipline does not stop at line and length. It also means keeping a cool head in an Ashes cauldron.

While it is heartening to hear Stuart Broad say that England will not be bullied, there is a fine line between controlled aggression and the type of immaturity that he displayed when he threw the ball at a Pakistani batsman last summer.

The Nottinghamshire all-rounder is one of the best young players in the world and a key facet of his game is his ability stand up and be counted.

That extra edge makes Broad special but, hopefully, he has learned not to be suckered out by a snarling Aussie.

It might sound boring, but the more that England focus on cricket and less on the sideshows, the more chance they have of retaining the urn.