Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc has insisted that England's batsmen have shown a weakness to left-arm seam bowling.

Starc said that the Australians watched England's recent series with New Zealand and were encouraged by the success the Kiwis had against Alastair Cook in particular.

"As a group we have paid a lot of close attention to that New Zealand and England series," Cricket365 quotes Starc as saying. "For me and James Faulkner, being left-armers, it was great to see a few of their guys really struggle against the left-armers.

"I'm sure they have gone away now and worked at that, but it's encouraging. We'll have to find a lot of different ways if things aren't happening, to get them out. We can't just rest on [Cook's] struggles against the left-armers.

"It's a point of difference for us and hopefully we can get that ball swinging for as long as we can. It's all about early wickets and being very aggressive against him being the captain of the side."

The first Ashes Test starts on July 10 at Trent Bridge.