King of the North? Starc's gambit to reclaim his throne

The Headingley pitch is set to determine the composition of Australia's pace attack but it could be the slow bowlers who have the biggest say in the third Ashes Test.

Australia captain Tim Paine inspected the wicket at the Ashes' northernmost venue on Tuesday and suggested it may play similar to the Lord's surface.

Pushing for selection is left-armer Mitchell Starc, who is yet to play a Test this campaign and boasts experience playing at Headingley, albeit just one match in 2012 for Yorkshire where he claimed match figures of 5-114 in 34.1 overs.

Australia have built their bowling strategy around containment and limiting the boundary ball, which does not exactly lend itself to Starc's aggressive style that can leak runs but equally take wickets in quick time, as evident by his outstanding Test career strike rate of 49.9.

But that hasn't stopped Starc from getting in the ear of Paine for a recall, even using Game of Thrones logic to press his claims.

"Starcy has actually told me a few times that the Starks run the North," Paine said.

"He said we'd be foolish not to play him here, he knows the conditions well and he is keen.

"He's another one who is ready to go. We'll look at the pitch and make the best decision then.

"We know the guys on the sidelines are world class and ready to go.

"But we do have a bit of a blueprint that we believe can win us the Ashes and that's all we are worried about."

Paine freely admits he is no savant when it comes to analysing a playing surface.

Image Id: 1BEB86BABBB544D4A66810B9E16D4448 Image Caption: Headingley has changed dramatically since Australia last played an Ashes Test at the venue in 2009 // Getty

"Normally up here it does quite a bit, especially if there are a bit of overhead conditions," the Australia captain said.

"That wicket looks like it has a tinge of green in it but it looks quite dry underneath again (like Lord's).

"There's another couple of days before we play, plenty of time to make a decision.

"I'm no expert, I most likely get pitches wrong, but it does look dry underneath again."

Should the Headingley pitch play similarly to the pitches at Lord's, where the surface was slow but offered sideway movements for both the seamers and spinners, Australia will likely take a familiar attack into the third Test.

Image Id: 2459AA55FBF74D679766A20C92F741E3 Image Caption: James Pattinson is fit and firing after being rested for the second Test // Getty

All of Australia's fast bowlers are available for selection, with express paceman James Pattinson back in the reckoning after missing out on the second Test as he eases his way back into international cricket.

Both Paine and coach Justin Langer have said it was part of the plan for Pattinson to miss one of the back-to-back second and third Tests, meaning he will likely return at the expense of one of Pat Cummins, Peter Siddle or Josh Hazlewood.

While the fast bowlers will undoubtedly play a pivotal role, it could be spinners who will have the most impact.

Yorkshire have played three County Championship matches at Headingley this summer, spread out over three months starting in May.

Their most recent match in July, some five weeks ago, saw the hosts pile up 520 before bowling Somerset out twice to win by an innings, with South African left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj taking 10-127 from 60.3 overs.

Image Id: 22A93BB3C55E45A8A6C97FDE6836452E Image Caption: The Aussies inspect the pitch close up // Getty

Maharaj's haul suggests England's Jack Leach, who like the Proteas ace is a left-arm orthodox spinner, could be a handful. On the final day at Lord's he was bowling into the rough to cause Australia's left-handers no end of trouble.

While Australia have their own spinning trump card in veteran Nathan Lyon, Langer says his batters will need to find ways to combat Leach if the pitch plays comparably to Lord's, as he expects it will.

"I thought the Lord's wicket looked very dry, I think this will be similar actually," Langer said.

"With the footmarks that will come at our left-handers they're going to have to be on top of their game.

"Like facing Jofra (Archer's) bouncers, we're going to have to have a really good plan of how we're going to face (Leach) bowling out of the rough.

"That's all part of the test of playing Test match cricket."

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

First Test: Australia beat England by 251 runs at Edgbaston

Second Test: Match drawn at Lord's

Third Test: August 22-26, Headingley

Tour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval