• Smith wary of ‘dangerous batters’ Australia will face at Edgbaston • Eoin Morgan: ‘If you never play an Ashes Test this is the closest you will get’

Eoin Morgan has described facing Australia in a one-day tournament as being as close as he will come to experiencing the heat of an Ashes series. But as his players prepared for a free shot at sending their rivals home from the Champions Trophy on Saturday, the England captain received a flavour of its intensity when his counterpart Steve Smith described his tactics as predictable.

Morgan, an unused squad player on England’s victorious 2010-11 Ashes tour, became a limited-overs specialist after a 16-cap Test career that only briefly flickered and since taking over the limited-overs captaincy at the start of the 2015 World Cup has led a revival that means they have already qualified for Wednesday’s first semi-final.

Play Video 1:02 England's Eoin Morgan: Australia's Champions Trophy is on the line – video

England’s new found elan in the past two years has brought them 23 totals in excess of 300 in 46 matches, including a world record 444 for three against Pakistan last summer. But Smith believes their approach is formulaic and is intending to exploit it when the sides meet on a fresh pitch at Edgbaston on Saturday.

“I’d say they’re quite predictable with the way they play,” said Smith, whose Australia side must win this final Group A game to reach the knockouts after washouts against Bangladesh and New Zealand.

“They don’t like to change a lot so from our aspect that’s something we can play on. They’ve got some dangerous batters who can score big runs and quick runs as well.”

Asked to elaborate, he replied: “[It’s] just their plans, the way they structure their innings and the way their bowlers are used and what the bowlers do. The bowlers have a set of skills that we know quite well and we know what they are going to do. So you’re halfway through the battle, if that makes sense.”

Smith’s drip of negativity, albeit couched with praise too, would not be out of place in the now traditional pre-Ashes phoney war. And it is true – if not necessarily a bad thing – that England have been rigid in their plans, such that Jason Roy is set to continue as opener on Saturday in a likely unchanged XI despite a personal funk that has left him averaging 6.71 in his seven innings this summer.

Morgan, needless to say, tipped Roy to turn things around – a backing in keeping with his overall leadership style in the past two years that has asked for selfless aggression from his players in exchange for extended chances when they hit a fallow period.

It should make for a mouthwatering spectacle when Morgan’s freewheeling batsmen collide with an Australian attack that features the left-arm of Mitchell Starc – star of their World Cup win in 2015 – the accuracy of Josh Hazlewood and the express pace of Pat Cummins.

“Sometimes [our approach] can look a little bit reckless at times and put us in some sticky situations, but we’re in a position where we have nothing to lose,” Morgan said. “They’re always big games, regardless of what’s on the line. If we’re looking to win this tournament and go beyond it and win the 2019 World Cup, we need to be beating the best sides in the world, and Australia are one of them.

“There’s always something more on it. I haven’t played in Ashes cricket, and certainly there are other guys like that in the changing room. From that side of things, if you never get to play in an Ashes game, this is the closest you will ever get.”

Australia will decide in the morning between the leg-spin of Adam Zampa that claimed two wickets against Bangladesh, or a recall for the burly seamer John Hastings. They have not won at Edgbaston in any format since 2001, while the most vocal crowd in the country has made the ground England’s favourite home venue.

Morgan said: “We love coming here. It’s normally a beautiful wicket and a high-scoring ground – that suits us. The atmosphere, particularly that [Hollies Stand] side of the ground, is always quite lively regardless of how the game is going. We always seem to get results here. That’s part of home advantage.”

Whether the ongoing Australian contract dispute works similarly in England’s favour remains to be seen, with Smith insisting his squad remain focused on the tournament at hand despite the very public fallout between their union and board having rumbled on since their arrival.

If the situation is not resolved before 30 June, however, Smith and his players will become unemployed. “We’ll have a whip round,” joked Morgan, adding a dash of spice to what he now regards as his own personal Ashes battle.