'I don't think Mitchell Johnson will play in the team' - Graeme Swann

Johnson will not be in the team according to Swann

Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann feels that Mitchell Johnson, the man who tormented the English batsmen during the previous Ashes won’t be featuring in the playing XI this time. And he has also warned his countrymen to take Mitchell Starc seriously as he feels that the World Cup man of the tournament will be the biggest threat this time around.

"I don't think Mitchell Johnson will play in the team," Swann said. "He's not the Mitchell to worry about. Mitchell Starc is above and beyond the best match-winning player they've got at the minute.

"Forget about the batsmen. If Mitchell Starc bowls well, I don't think England have got any hope of winning the Ashes. If they nullify him in some way, then they've got a chance." He also went on to suggest that Steve Smith would struggle in England against the swinging ball.

"I didn't think he was a great player," Swann said. "I still don't think he's got a great technique. He bats five. I don't think he would score runs at three if it's swinging.

"He's a very good player of the short ball. He picks it up extremely quickly for his pull shot. He pulls the length that most people just fend at and nick. And he's been incredible over the last 18 months. He must have surprised himself, as well as everyone else, with his output. The trick for him is to try to keep that going. Whether he can, time will tell.

"In Australia, when we were going through them, he still hung around a lot. Normal balls that get normal batsmen out don't get him out because of his weird technique.

"But a bit like Jonathan Trott, how he was stellar at the start of his career, the more people study, the more they find weaknesses. Weakness will emerge with Steve Smith. He's not like a Steve Waugh, where there's no obvious ways of getting him out. He doesn't strike fear in you like the Aussies used to, with Matt Hayden or Adam Gilchrist."