Former Australia captain Steve Waugh is excited about fast bowler Mitchell Starc's emergence in recent months, saying the paceman has the ability to be a threat in Test cricket as well, despite shining mostly with the white ball.
Australia leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed is looking forward to playing Test cricket for the Baggy Green, having been recalled to the side after fading out of contention since his ODI debut, but says he wasn't aiming for that yet.
There are still three months to go before the Ashes in England, but Australia are thinking ahead after the World Cup win and have named a 17-man Ashes squad that had no room for Glenn Maxwell or James Faulkner.
This track is traditionally not one for spinners, so England's senior pacemen, and India's returning Ishant Sharma, should have the better time of it with the ball, though batsmen tend to have the upper hand on the flat-ish deck.
The England versus Australia roller coaster shifts formats again this weekend, as the sides prepare for a five-match ODI series on the back of the drawn one-all T20 installment.
Three consummate victories separate England from Australia ahead of the fifth and final Test at The Oval, but a deadrubber this certainly is not, with plenty of intriguing variables - and goals - to thicken the plot.
The Ashes action moves to Durham this week for the fourth Ashes encounter, to the Riverside Ground, where England have never drawn, let alone lost, a Test and will be looking to make sure the series is sewn up.
There's been a substantial break between the second and third Ashes Tests, and all eyes will be on Old Trafford to see if England's rest did them the world of good, and if the Australians learned from the defeat at Lord's.
Another Ashes Test is on our doorstep, and like the build up to the first installment at Trent Bridge, the days leading up to Lord's has been filled with drama for the Aussies and selection conundrums for England.
