Justin Langer resists from throwing verbal grenades at England but revels in Australia's bowling riches

NICK HOWSON AT LORD'S: With Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc to come in, the tourists have the upper hand as England prepare to replace James Anderson with an uncapped seamer

There are few international teams whose coach better symbolises them than Australia. The team of gritty, determined and character-led sportspeople have such similarities to their leader Justin Langer there is an argument to suggest they were formed using genetic cloning alone.

The tourists had to draw on all of that traits at Edgbaston as they fought back from several periods of strife to claim victory by an eye-watering 251 runs - a margin which didn't seem feasible, let alone believable, at the premature climax of day three.

If this current group of Australia players can inhale yet another feature from the head coach, then staying grounded over the next week might be the most important. Only once have a side led a five-Test Ashes series from the outset only to lose but the former opener needs no invitation to play down the significance of any possible victory at Lord's.

"When we win three Test matches, I'll be confident that we'll take the Ashes," said the Perth native. "We haven't gone 2-0 yet. At the moment it is 1-0 and there are four Tests to go."

Langer isn't one to typically engage in phycological warfare across the media so his insistence that Australia will look to nullify Jofra Archer by grinding him down and seeing that he gets as many overs as possible has to be taken with some substance. That a 24-year-old who before May had never tasted the pressure of any form of international cricket is being taken so seriously is a testament to his ability, but also a reflection of the tourists' level of planning.

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"We'll be prepared," said the 48-year-old. "Jofra Archer; I am really curious and interested to see how he goes. He hasn't played much red-ball cricket. Obviously, he's played a lot of white-ball cricket and has an incredible temperament. 

"Our plans to him are going to be no different than they would have been to James Anderson, [Stuart] Broad, [Chris Stokes] Woakes or Ben Stokes. That also goes for [Jack] Leach. I am sure Steve Smith and all our batters will be rehearsing how they should play against those guys.

"Most of our guys have played him a bit before. It will be up to the individuals and not so much our game plan against him. It is the same for all of them in Test cricket: get them into their third and fourth spells. That is not only significant for this Test match but for this series."

While England are rotating their bowling attack out of necessity, Australia are braced to make changes due to their sheer glut of options. Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc both bowled in the tour match at Worcestershire and set to replace James Pattinson and Peter Siddle.

Being able to make such alterations comes with the third Test at Headingley coming next week. While England are already scraping the barrel with three bowlers injured and another badly out of form, Australia's embarrassment of riches gives them a significant advantage.

^{Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are primed to come into the Australia attack}

"We know that back-to-back Tests are always hard," added Langer. "We were lucky in the first Test that our bowlers didn't have to bowl that much in the second innings. 

"It is something that is on our mind and will be on England's minds as well. Test series are hard but what we're really fortunate with at the moment is we've got six fit and healthy bowlers. 

"I can't remember having that luxury but it could change so we're not getting carried away with it but it is a nice position to be in. The fact we had Josh and Mitch on the bench last week doesn't happen very often so we won't get complacent. We're happy to be in that spot at the moment."

"We're aware of that. That is why you're seeing more white-ball specialists now. You see that with Anderson and Broad. When they're on the merry-go-round you probably don't see the best of them. It is about how we manage them all round. You have to recognise they're humans and you have to recharge their batteries for every big event."

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