The “Gabbatoir” they call it! It sounds rather like a load of fluff, doesn’t it?

The received wisdom is that Brisbane has been a great hunting ground for the home team. Not since 1988 have they lost a Test but looking at the Australian team, I’m not sure I would be so scared. 

England, without their trump card Ben Stokes, have not so much jetted over to the other side of the world as sailed in rather quietly with a slight tailwind, hoping to get the job done. I’ve come to like that. Sometimes the unassuming “let’s make the most of what we have” attitude is the right one.

As we know this is hardly the jumbo jet of a side that landed in 2010/11, the team captained by Andrew Strauss that kicked the Aussies up in the air. This is a team who may quietly and unassumingly play some good cricket. 

What England lack in pace they make up for in skill. Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Chris Woakes are highly skilled and bowl quick enough. Moeen Ali is one of Test cricket’s current outstanding performers. There are reasons to be positive for England.

But it’s hard to say whether just good cricket will be enough. New players Dawid Malan, Mark Stoneman and James Vince that may have a point to prove but the odds are stacked against them - as they are for any player in his first Ashes.

ASHES FIRST TEST: WHEN TIME DOES IT START

They have shown form in the warm-up matches but I can tell from experience, warm-up matches don’t tell anywhere near the full story.

In India, we face some club spinners before the first Test where R. Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja spun riot and it was about as big a difference in class as you could find.

Leading up to that first Test is daunting. A new country for some, especially one as passionate about cricket and sport as Australia, is not easy. The feeling that you haven’t done enough, the question “am I ready?”, nerves, anxiety and excitement: they are all to be expected.

Staying calm and making sure you stick to your routine are a focus. Casting away self-doubt and making sure you’re ready to do your job is important. You try to relax, play golf and pretend it’s another cricket match - but it isn’t.

One man for whom it will be particularly nerve-wracking is Craig Overton, who is in line to make his Test debut at Brisbane. But I don’t think it will faze him. When Craig first came into the Somerset team, there was a maturity that was very obvious. I like his attitude.

I think he’s a really good guy off the field and what really stuck out for me was that when he came in as a youngster, it didn’t feel like it was his first game in first-class cricket and he’s really green. It was like he’d been playing for years.

He bowls very aggressively, he hits hard lengths and when he wants to he can be a good pace. He can catch in the slips and he can bat too. While he’s not technically a fantastic player, there’s a counteracting ability there and a fight and determination.

Those are the characteristics that have really impressed in my time playing with him. He’s in the game and he’s not scared to have a pop at you as a batter.

NICK COMPTON'S FIRST ASHES COLUMN

Mark Ramprakash the batting coach can be a tough taskmaster and he likes to have a plan - he’ll never give you a few half-volleys to get your eye in! I remember in South Africa getting some light yellow balls being pinged at me with the slinger about 17 yards always.

They were all short and at the head, trying to replicate More Morkel and Dale Steyn. The same will be the case there too. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc aren’t slow! It’s uncomfortable but necessary - you know deep down you can’t leave any stone unturned but then you also don’t want to over-hype it. “Just keep doing the things that have worked in the past,” you tell yourself.

The most important thing for the England batters come the first Test is to get in. It sounds simple but as a new player you want to absorb the experience and you can’t do that sitting in the hutch. I remember my first Test series thinking I want to say I spent two hours in the middle of a Test match. Of course, a hundred would have been better but having grown up dreaming of this moment, I didn’t want to play a poor shot and be watching from the dressing room.

To say you had been out there in the middle of the Gabba being sledged by David Warner and the rest of them might be a good story for the armchair in years to come. Suddenly you’ve spent sometime out there and you’re in! 

The new Kookaburra ball is hard work especially for the first 20 overs. England’s batsmen will need to get in blunt the new ball and give the team a platform. That first morning is about being solid and good shot selection as it ever is. Alastair Cook is key, we need him pulling and cutting like we know he can and Stoneman has the attacking shots on good wickets to play well.

If England’s batsmen can show some resolve then all the noise of the infamous “Gabbatoir” will die down and their cricket can speak for itself.

Nick Compton is Ladbrokes' Ashes brand ambassador. Australia are 2/5 favourites to win the Ashes, with England 10/3 outsiders