Alastair Cook has told his England teammates to let their "cricket do the talking" when the second Ashes Test gets underway in Adelaide on Thursday.

The tourists were given a hostile reception from the Australia crowd during their 381-run defeat during the first Test in Brisbane, with the topic of sledging dominating the media talk after a number of heated exchanges between the players.

"You let your cricket do the talking," Cook told the press. "Last time we had the same hostile environment when we got here, but toward the end of the series we played some really good cricket and that hostility changed because everyone was very respectful of the way we played.

"In that last game we didn't do ourselves justice and they got on top and that's what home supporters do when you get on top. We knew that coming into this series and a few of us have played a lot of cricket over here. We know how important it is to let the skills out in the middle do the talking and everything else will take care of itself.

"People want to see real tough cricket, that's what they enjoy, especially between England and Australia, but there's got to be a boundary that we don't cross. Maybe last week we let emotion get ahead of ourselves a little bit on some occasions and it got a little bit ugly. [Michael Clarke] and I have a responsibility as captains of both sides to make sure that doesn't happen."

England were victorious on their last trip to the Adelaide Oval three years ago.