England skipper Andrew Strauss is hoping they can exploit the inexperience of English conditions within the Australia ranks during Ashes.

Strauss was as intrigued as the rest of the nation to read the list of names included in Australia's Ashes squad, which was announced on Wednesday alongside the usual warnings that they would target him once the series began.

Andrew Symonds was surprisingly overlooked with Shane Watson and Andrew McDonald being preferred for the all-rounders spots.

Off-spinner Nathan Hauritz is the only specialist slow bowler included, although Marcus North can also bowl off-spin and Michael Clarke has proved a useful left-arm spinner in the past.

Australia low on experience

England can also draw comfort from only four members of the squad - captain Ricky Ponting, Clarke, Brett Lee and Simon Katich - having previous experience of Test cricket in English conditions.

Other members of the squad, notably Phil Hughes at Middlesex earlier this summer, have played at county level, but with the majority of the Australian tourists having little experience of English conditions, it is an area England could exploit.

"We may possibly be able to look at that, but any Australian side that comes over here is going to be pretty strong," stressed Strauss.

"The most important thing is that we play our conditions well. We obviously know them so it's up to us to play them better than the Australians do."

County stint to help

Hughes' Middlesex stint has caused the most controversy with critics arguing it gave him the perfect platform to adjust to English conditions before the Ashes.

But Middlesex teammate Owais Shah believes Hughes, who scored 882 runs in 13 innings in all competitions before returning to Australia, has also helped out the young English players at the county.

"The people who benefited most from having him at the club was the six or seven left-handers we have there who are all aged 21 to 23 and they have all got something out of that," explained Shah.

"Playing in England has got its advantages. You play against the moving ball and from a batter's point of view he's probably had the ideal preparation.

"I don't think you can say that just because he's come in and played with us for a few weeks that it's going to tip the Ashes in their favour or our favour.

"You can't really worry about how Ricky Ponting or Phillip Hughes is playing. We just need to worry about how we're playing and if we go out there and perform I'm pretty sure we can get a good result."