Johnson back to his best, warns Clarke

Coverage: Ball-by-ball Test Match Special commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, Radio 4 LW, online, tablets, mobiles and BBC Sport app. Live text commentary on the BBC Sport website.

“I don’t want to change things straight away with him because a lot of it will be bred by the type of players, or the way players underneath him, the way they play”.

“The way the game has been played over the last five or 10 years you could argue that maybe we haven t kept up to date as some of the other teams”, he said. “That’s the exciting thing”. The buildup to the series has also featured much discussion about the animosity between the teams, which has often spilled over in the past.

“I think Mitch will go into this series extremely confident with what he did in the last Ashes series, and so he should”, he said. “Any competitive series like that is great for the game”.

Lehmann was parachuted in as Australia’s coach just before the Ashes began in 2013.

Cook has shown a return to form this year with a hundred against the West Indies in the Caribbean and a fine century against New Zealand at Lord’s. “England’s route to victory then lies with Alastair Cook and Joe Root scoring lots of runs, and the bowling attack working in partnerships to make up for that lack of a strike bowler”, he wrote.

“As a leader of a group, you do have to change your style of leadership to (suit) the players you’ve got and what gets the best out of them”. It always has been from my point of view.

“I think it’s the same with our batting…it’s (me) being able to let them do that and make them feel comfortable”. “Pretty simple in theory, in practice a bit more hard”, added Strauss. “Cricket’s not played on paper, or what happened two years ago, it’s about what happens tomorrow and the next 25 days from there”.

Clarke led the Aussies to a 5-0 whitewash Down Under but produced one of the most infamous moments in cricket when he told Jimmy Anderson to “get ready for a broken f*****g arm” as the fast bowler walked out to bat in Brisbane. I’ve made it very clear that within the final collection if someone overstepped that mark it was me.

“I think if Australia do win, they’ll have to play some outstanding cricket to do so”, said Strauss.

But, while Ali is still perfecting his technique – learning on the job if you will, Lyon is much more experienced. “The cricket will be tough on the field, but we’ll know there’s a line you can’t overstep”.

An England team containing James Anderson and Stuart Broad will hardly be mistaken for a choirboys XI either.

“He has had a really interesting career but over the last six months he has really matured”.

Australia have not won in England since 2001, with 33-year-old left-armer Johnson part of the 2009 squad that was beaten by England after playing two Tests against Pakistan in the United Kingdom.

“We can not keep harping on about that”.

“I like the way he’s gone about his business this summer”. He’s trained really hard.

Cardiff: The biggest question for many going into the Ashes is: How soon will Australia win the series?

Cook said Stokes’s attitude was shared by several of England’s emerging stars.