Josh Hazlewood will be leading Australia’s pace attack during the two-test series in Bangladesh in the absence of injured fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson.

Left-armer Starc suffered a stress fracture in his foot on the tour of India and missed the third and fourth tests. He returned for June’s Champions Trophy in England but later according to reports was not properly fit. Pattinson was suffering inflammation around an area of his back where he had a previous stress fracture.

Pat Cummins and Jackson Bird will assist Hazlewood in his venture as the Australian pace attack.

“There’s only going to be a couple of quicks in the team and a few spinners (but) as long as we’re working together, I think we’ll be okay,” Hazlewood told reporters at a team camp in Darwin on Sunday “I see myself as a leader amongst the group now. The team’s changed a lot since I first came in, and I’ve gone from a junior player to a senior player, so I try to take that extra initiative to lead from the front.”

Uncapped Mitchell Swepson, who was previously selected for the tour of India earlier this year but did not play, was included in the squad over a pacer keeping in mind the spin conditions in the sub-continent.

Swepson is the third frontline spinner in the side, with off-spinner Nathan Lyon and left-arm orthodox spinner Ashton Agar on their way for Bangladesh.

On their opposition, Hazle wood praised Bangladesh’s recent performance against England where they leveled the series as 1-1 and also said that they are no longer to be taken lightly.

“They’re a world-class team,” Hazlewood said. “They had some pretty good showings in that Champion’s Trophy tournament and their test cricket at home has been pretty good. We can’t take them lightly, that’s for sure.”

Australia takes on Bangladesh in the first Test in Mirpur starting from Aug. 27.