Ashes 2017/18: Shane Warne says Australia can dominate if Alastair Cook and Joe Root struggle

With the English Test summer over, attention now turns to this winter's Ashes. Here, Shane Warne tells us what to expect from Australia as they aim to regain the urn...

Over the last year the Australia side has been much more settled and I think Trevor Hohns has to take a fair bit of credit for that.

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Some of Rod Marsh's selections were a bit all over the place for the 12 months before Hohns took over but there is more consistency in selection now and I think Hohns is an excellent selector and a good chairman.

It is a more balanced side, a more consistent side and the bowling I think is fantastic. Nathan Lyon is a quality spinner and there are four or five quality fast bowlers. If they're all fit I think the first choice three would be Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

Then there are players like James Pattinson, who are just outside but could easily be playing and will be pushing for selection. Jackson Bird is very good, too, plus there are a few other good younger bowlers around.

I think for bowling in Australia, especially the fast bowlers, we have a very good attack and there is a good nucleus of bowlers but the weakness - in both sides - is the batting, the top five or six.

England's middle and lower order is stronger with Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali, they are very dangerous players. Whereas Australia haven't really got that with Matthew Wade not really firing at the moment. If he does find form and bats the way he can then he adds a huge element to the team because he really can bat.

In terms of batting, both teams really rely on two players: Alastair Cook and Joe Root for England, David Warner and Steve Smith for Australia. They rely heavily on those players because they are quality players, all four of them.

It is one of those situations where if those four batsmen fire and the bowlers stay fit on both sides then it could be a really good series.

But let's says Warner and Smith have poor series, then I think England will win. But if Cook and Root don't get runs then I think Australia could really dominate England, especially with the bowling we have.

A lot was made of Australia losing the first Test in Bangladesh recently and I think sometimes we underestimate Bangladesh in their own conditions. They are quite a good side and we've seen them in recent times beat England in the World Cup and they play very well at home.

Australia came off playing no cricket after the big pay dispute, they settled that and went straight to Bangladesh. Bangladesh outplayed them in that first Test but then Australia learned a bit in that match and played some pretty good cricket in the second to blow Bangladesh away.

Just getting back into the flow of playing Test cricket after a long break will have really helped them.

Playing conditions in India and Bangladesh are completely foreign compared to what it is going to be like in Australia when they play England. So, it is important to make full use of the first class games they now have, in the Sheffield Shield, back on Australian soil and in Australian conditions.

It could give the Australia players a really important foundation in the lead up to that first Test.