The Ashes 2015: Buttler, Warner and Smith to provide fireworks

The Ashes is always special - but there could be extra spice this time around with some of the most electrifying players in the game on show.

Read on for our guide to the Ashes' most explosive batsmen and why the pyrotechnics may not be confined to the cricket field alone...

SHAUN MARSH

Marsh seemed set for drinks-carrying duty when named in Australia's squad but after scoring a half-century in the final Test against West Indies and a ton in the Baggy Greens' Ashes warm-up with Kent, he looks odds-on to partner David Warner at the top of the order. Marsh, the son of Geoff and brother of Mitchell, will offer a tad more oomph than Australia’s other opening option Chris Rogers - his IPL and Big Bash performances tell you that - but he is also more partial to a night on the tiles!

JOS BUTTLER

When Adam Gilchrist strode to the crease for Australia, there was always a feeling that the game could move on at a rate of knots - and England's current wicketkeeper batsman has the same aura. Buttler, a man with more innovations than Apple, can clear the ropes with the best of them, either to embellish an already good score or as part of a counter-attacking effort. The Taunton-born star is still waiting for his first Test ton but wouldn't an Ashes series be the perfect time to get it?

STEVE SMITH

The word 'Bradman-esque' has been used to describe Smith recently, with the swashbuckler from Sydney plundering seven hundreds in his last 12 Tests - as well as over 1,600 runs - en route to becoming the No1 ranked batsman in the world. Smith, the heir apparent as Australia captain, has subsequently been shunted up the order to No 3, and if his 199 against West Indies is anything to go by, he is relishing the responsibility. No-one is mocking his idiosyncratic technique any longer.

BEN STOKES

Stokes certainly packs a punch - and not just in the locker room! Anyone who saw the Durham dynamo wallop the fastest Test century at Lord’s against New Zealand earlier this summer - off just 85 balls - will never forget it, but his fence-finding antics would have come as no surprise to Australia, with Stokes clubbing 18 fours and six while scoring a maiden Test ton against the Baggy Greens in Perth in 2013. Fiery with bat, ball and in the field, he will be key this Ashes summer.

DAVID WARNER

Perhaps the "packs a punch" line should have been used about Warner as, like Stokes, the Aussie blaster has made headlines for using his fists off the field as well as nailing boundaries on it. He chinned Joe Root is what I'm getting at! That is likely to make him the pantomime villain once again this series but he could be Australia's hero if his aggressive batting comes off - which it usually does. Warner has an unconventional style but it has yielded him 12 tons in his first 38 Tests. Not too shabby, eh?

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