Mitchell Starc says 'genius' Josh Hazlewood key to being aggressive against England

Mitchell Starc has labelled Josh Hazlewood a "genius", saying his new-ball partner's control will allow Australia to be aggressive against England when the Ashes gets underway on November 23.

Starc and Hazlewood are set to open the bowling for Australia in five-day cricket for the first time since March and they are likely to be joined in the attack by New South Wales team-mate Pat Cummins, after all three were rested for the third round of the domestic Sheffield Shield.

Starc insists Hazlewood's ability to consistently hit his line and length will mean him and Cummins can go all-out attack against Joe Root's side.

"He's a genius with line and length," Starc told reporters. "It allows Pat and I to be aggressive and that's how I bowl. We can unleash from the other end, bowl as quick as we can and attack.

"He [Hazlewood] takes his wickets with line and length and Pat and I come in and try and blast teams out, try and attack the stumps and really intimidate. We complement each other really well.

"I think we have an attack that is gelling well," he added. "It doesn't have to be one guy who stands up. If someone has a Mitchell Johnson-type series, fantastic, but if we win the Ashes it doesn't matter who gets all the wickets.

"Hopefully we can stay together as a group and do something special over the next few years."

Meanwhile, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting thinks Hilton Cartwright will be the choice of the Aussie selectors to bat at No 6 in the Ashes.

Along with Cartwright, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Nic Maddinson and Moises Henriques have all been named as potential candidates to fill the void against England.

Cartwright, who played in Australia's final Test against Pakistan, recorded a pair of ducks in his most recent JLT Sheffield Shield appearance for Western Australia in his bid to nail down the spot, but Ponting has still tipped Cartwright to retain his place in the side after coming in for Australia's crucial second Test win against Bangladesh in September.

"I think it's going to be hard for [the selectors] not to pick Cartwright," he told cricket.com.au. "He averages 50 in first-class cricket, none of the other guys are doing that.

"I know he got a pair in the last Shield game, but he also played the last Test in Australia, so someone is seeing something there. I thought it was a shock selection when he got picked last year, but maybe that was a bit of an audition for what this summer looks like.

"They jumped at the opportunity to play him opening the batting in the one-day series in India just gone, when he went as a spare batter. So unless something extraordinary happens this week in this last round of Shield games, then I think Cartwright will be the man at six.

He added. "I'm a believer in playing your best batsman at six - if you can get a few overs out of them, all well and good but the bits-and-pieces types don't ever have much impact on Test matches, I don't think.

"I'd be scouring around for who we think is our best-equipped number six batsman for an Ashes series, pick him and give him a go."