Starc warning to England's batsmen

Mitchell Starc says Australia's fast bowling pack have found consistent swing with the English Duke ball, and believe it could help them in their quest for a first Ashes victory on British soil for 14 years.

While conceding the Duke did feel "strange" to the Aussie quicks who are used to hurling the Kookaburra brand at batsmen, they believe the local ball is now closer than ever to what they're used to.

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"Peter Siddle, who has played a bit of county cricket over here in the last few months, mentioned that the ball has changed again a little bit, with a different lacquer so it has come a lot closer to the Kookaburra in the way you maintain it and shine it," Starc told cricket.com.au.

"It'll be interesting to see how that goes.

"The ones we've been using the last three days (at training) certainly swings a lot more, and sometimes it can swing naturally for 80 overs, and it's quite nice to shine up as well.

"I love bowling with the 'Kooka', but (the Duke) sits in the hand quite nicely and when you know in the back of your mind that it's going to swing a lot that definitely helps us out."

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Mitch Starc bowls in the nets in Canterbury // Getty Images

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The ball in use for the five Ashes Tests is the same brand, but slightly different to the ball Starc and co used in the West Indies to devastating effect.

The left-armer finished with 10 wickets at 16, while man of the series Josh Hazlewood took 12 wickets at 8.33. Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Lyon both collected eight wickets.

"It's a strange one coming from the Kookaburra ball into a West Indian Duke, which is a bit harder, the lacquer is different to the Duke we'll use here," Starc explained.

"We've been getting used to the different sort of seam. It's not too dissimilar to the one we used in the West Indies but it is certainly different to the Kookaburra."

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Starc said he hasn't had much time to reflect on what has been an incredible six months for him, from Shane Warne's criticism of his "body language" in the Brisbane Test to finding form in the Big Bash League, translating that into a return to Test cricket and then an amazing World Cup that saw him named the 2015 player of the tournament.

But little rest and time to dwell on achievements is how the 25-year-old left-armer prefers it.

"It's a long tour but you've got to know your body and when to go hard and when not to," said Starc.

"For me, I like to keep bowling and keep that consistency in my action and that rhythm and that smoothness that I like.

"So playing cricket for the past few months, whether it's white ball or red ball, it has been good for me to keep bowling."

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