Australian pace duo Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood are set to return in the competitive cricket in the build-up for much-anticipated Ashes this summer. Both bowlers were out of the action during the recently concluded ODI series against India, where Aussies suffer a 4-1 defeat.

Starc last played for Australia in the Champions Trophy, where his team remained winless and didn’t even qualify for the semifinals. On the other hand, his new ball partner Hazelwood picked up an injury during the first Test against in Bangladesh in September.

Both players will play for New South Wales in JLT One-Day Cup before featuring in the initial matches of Sheffield Shield. Starc stated on his return, “Barring any hiccups, I’ll be taking part in the JLT Cup and hopefully that first couple of Shield games as well. I think that’s a great lead-up for all the guys who are around the Test set-up, the guys who are looking to try and get in that team and some of us coming back from injury.”

The 27-year-old further added “It’s first-class cricket hopefully on some Test venues. It’s probably a better lead-in than most of the last few summers where we’ve had one Shield game, two at tops. The last few times I’ve been injured I’ve been rushed back too early for tournaments.”

“The same thing happened in the Champions Trophy, so to have a nice even lead-in to this summer has been good. It has been a silver lining to spend a lot of time in the gym and not rush back into bowling and make sure I haven’t got any niggles leading into a very important summer,” he concluded.

The Ashes will burn up again from 23 November in Down Under and Starc is eyeing to reflect on Mitchell Johnson’s fiery show of Ashes 2013-14.