The much-awaited ICC World Test Championship kicks off in Birmingham on Thursday with England hosting arch-rivals Australia in the first Ashes match. For the visitors, a lot will depend on their premier spinner Nathan Lyon as he boasts of a good record against England.

In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Lyon revealed how he has observed Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling in the English County Championship over the past couple of months. The Indian off-spinner played for Nottinghamshire this season and picked up a stunning 23 wickets from just three matches.

Lyon, who along with Ashwin has been one of the finest off-spinners of this generation, said he has been watching footage of the Indian’s exploits in county cricket and has picked up some tricks.

“I have watched a lot of footage of Ravi Ashwin actually, bowling over here last year and in the tours that he has been here, how effective he has been. In my eyes he is one of the offies going around. I can definitely learn from watching how he goes about it here in England,” said the 31-year-old.

On his part, Ashwin expressed his excitement for the Ashes to begin with a tweet on Thursday. “Ashes set to begin!! Look forward to a repeat of the 2005 season, what a start that will be for the world Test championships,” wrote the 32-year-old on his Twitter page.

Ashes set to begin!! Look forward to a repeat of the 2005 season, what a start that will be for the world test championships. #ashes2019 #WorldTestChampionship — Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) August 1, 2019

Lyon has taken 343 wickets from 86 Tests while Ashwin has 342 wickets to his name from just 65 matches in the longest format of the game.

England, the One-Day International world champions, will be eager to regain the urn at the end of the five-match series. The Tests will be at Edgbaston, Lord’s, Headingley, Old Trafford and The Oval.

Here are the squads:

England: Rory Burns, Jason Roy, Joe Root (c), Joe Denly, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (w), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Sam Curran, Olly Stone, Jofra Archer.

Australia: David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Marnus Labuschagne, Tim Paine (w/c), James Pattinson, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser.