Mike Hussey has highlighted Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad as potential dangers in the forthcoming Ashes series in Australia.
Left-hander highlights danger of Swann and Broad
Mike Hussey insists Australia will head into this winter's Ashes series full of confidence and self-belief, but acknowledges that they will have to perform well to regain the little urn.
The left-handed batsman highlighted Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad as potential dangers on Australian pitches, but still feels the hosts have every reason to be optimistic.
"I think Graeme Swann will certainly do a lot of work on our pitches," he stated. "He's obviously performed very well over quite a period of time now so I think he'll definitely do plenty of work and have the opportunity to perform well.
"We're certainly going to have to play him better than we did last time.
Really confident
"I also think someone like Stuart Broad could be a handful. His extra height and bounce could play a role on our pitches which are generally a bit faster and more bouncy than English conditions. They're two that spring to mind."
However, while acknowledging the threat that England present, Hussey was quick to talk up Australia's chances.
Indeed, he backed up skipper Ricky Ponting who made waves last week when he suggested Australia could end up winning the series 5-0 as they did last time England toured Down Under.
"We go into every Test match trying to win the Test match so I think that's what Ricky means," he continued. "He's thinking, 'we're going to try to win 5-0 because we don't want to lose any Test matches'.
"I don't think he's making any claims or predictions that we are going to win 5-0 but our aim is to go in to win every Test match.
"I'm really confident. I've got a very good feeling about the Ashes.
"I think since a lot of our legends left our team a few years ago, we've been able to keep a core group of players for a good couple of years now and we've been slowly building.
"It's important that we've kept that group together and I think that will hold us in good stead for the Ashes series and also going into the World Cup."
The Australians face India before taking on England and Hussey believes the two-Test series should provide the ideal tune-up for his side.
"I see a lot of positives about going to India, particularly playing a couple of Tests in the lead-up to the Ashes," he added.
"It will be very good for us to play some good, hard Test cricket, which is always the case in India.
Excellent preparation
"We're going to be tested against spin from Harbhajan Singh and so it's going to be good preparation for playing Swann. The Indians use reverse swing very well too and that's something England are trying to perfect.
"It's going to be excellent preparation for us."
Hussey also responded enigmatically to suggestions that he may be considering retirement once the Ashes and the subsequent World Cup are over.
"From about six months ago there were three series I was desperate to be involved in: the World Twenty20, the Ashes and the World Cup," said the 35-year-old.
"I haven't really looked beyond that at all. Maybe after that we'll sit down and look at it and see what the future holds from there. But it took me 10 years to get one game (for Australia), so I don't want to wish it away too quickly."
