England 'can't beat us' says bullish O'Keeffe

Former Test spinner Kerry O'Keeffe believes new England captain Joe Root will be susceptible to Australia's bouncier pitches when he leads his country Down Under for this summer's Ashes.

Root made a magnificent 190 in his first Test in charge earlier this month to guide his team to a one-nil series lead against South Africa, only to see the scenario spectacularly reversed as his side wilted to be all out for 133 and surrender the second match as the series was levelled in Nottingham.

Root made 78 and 8 in that match, and was undone by a superb outswinging yorker from Chris Morris in the second innings, before watching on as his team collapsed to a record defeat.

O'Keeffe questioned the quality of England's top order in general, and while he conceded the brilliant Root was indeed "a danger", he also said the new skipper could be troubled by the extra bounce in Australia.

"(England have) got the ageing (Alastair) Cook at one, at number three is (Gary) Ballance, who we've always had no problem with at all," he said on Triple M's Dead Set Legends podcast.

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"Root at four is going to be a danger, but the bouncy wickets may bring him undone. He's a very good slow pitch player – stays side on, keeps the bat face open.

"(But) he'll nick forever if it bounces."

Root struggled in his only Test series in Australia to date, only passing 30 once in eight trips to the crease (he made 87 in Adelaide) before being dropped for the final match in Sydney.

Ballance, who scored 85 runs at 21.25 across the first two Tests against South Africa, has been ruled out of the third Test with a broken finger, and the left-hander may find the road back to the team a difficult one given he was under significant pressure to retain his place before injury struck.

O'Keeffe said England, who have lost eight of their past 13 Tests, would struggle to get on top of the Australians in their own backyard, where they're traditionally very strong, having whitewashed England in the last Ashes series four summers ago. 

"They've got ageing fast bowlers – I think we can win this series easily," he added.

"You win at home, you lose away, and we are very good at home.

"On what I saw against South Africa, this is not (an England) side that can beat us."

The sentiments were echoed by former Australia quick Mitchell Johnson, who predicted the scars of recent battles would haunt England this summer.

"It's only one game, but it's the way they got beaten," Johnson said on Wednesday.

"They've got a few issues coming to Australia. Australia are a huge chance.

"(England) probably haven't got that consistency at the moment; they've changed their team a little bit so they're trying to find the right squad.

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"It's getting close to an Ashes series so you want to try and lock that in, and it's going to be hard for them now because they've just been beaten."