When it comes to the Ashes, Middlesex batsman John Simpson is the same as any other England fan - he wants the Aussies beaten.

The left-hander has enjoyed a personal purple patch in the T20 Blast for the Panthers recently, but his “old school” love for the longer format of the game has whetted his appetite for the most famous Test Series in cricket.

England and Australia commence battle tomorrow (Wednesday) in the first Test at Glamorgan’s Swalec stadium in Cardiff.

The Series takes in Lord’s (July 16), Edgbaston (July 29) and Trent Bridge (August 6), before ending at the Kia Oval (August 20).

Simpson said: “It’s going to be an interesting Series – we’re a tough side to play in our own conditions, but we’re coming up a very strong Aussie side.

“It’ll be interesting to see how the pitches are prepared – will we have classic wickets where the guys can score a lot of runs, which brings spinners into play.

“Nathan Lyons is the man for Australia, and no disrespect to Mo (Ali) and Adil (Rashid), that is where they are ahead of us.”

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He added: “I found it interesting what Kevin Gillespie said about Australia being a dad’s army, and asking how they would cope if we kept them in the field for a long time, but who knows?

“Either way, hopefully we’ll come out on the right side of it because we know what the Aussies are like with their barracking and rubbing salt into the wound.”

Simpson grew up in a cricket world that had not yet heard of one-day games or the razzmatazz spectacle of T20.

As a result the 26-year-old has more affection for the strategy of four-day cricket over the wham-bam thank-you ma’am affairs.

He said: “I am old school and prefer the classic four-day cricket.

“I grew up in the era of Test Match cricket, the old school of hard, competitive cricket, to and fro – you don’t which way it’s going to go.

“Bowlers have good periods where they are coming in hard, and the batsman has to survive a tricky spell – then the batsman will have a period where he can score freely.

“But one spell with the ball can change the complex, or one innings can turn it in your favour.”

He added: “T20 is all about having the opportunity to flourish, to play with freedom and no holds barred – you can take the shackles off and see ball, hit ball.

“But I still think test cricket is the pinnacle of our game.”