This is Australia’s greatest Ashes pace attack

Lillee and Thomson terrified the English in 1974-75 but our current pace attack is the best we’ve ever had.

Australian Test bowler Mitchell Starc.

After picking a rookie opener, a ­recycled No 6 and a reconditioned keeper, Steve Smith’s Australians need their pace attack like never before.

Shane Warne aside, pace has always been Australia’s trump and, after an unsettled build-up to the most important Ashes series in a generation, the nation’s hopes rest with its trident of quicks.

Thankfully in Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins the hosts have what might prove to be their greatest pace ­attack of all time.

The trio — who have never been unleashed in a Test together — already compare favourably with the greatest combinations.

Famous trios in the ashes for pace bowling

Their combined career strike rates are better even than the Glenn McGrath/Jason Gillespie/Brett Lee grouping that powered Australia to Ashes glory.

Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson terrified the English tourists in 1974-75 and the third seamer in that series, Max Walker, was a fine bowler but operated at nothing ­approaching Cummins’ pace and struck nowhere near as often.

Similarly, the attack that demolished England 5-0 in the 2013-14 Ashes was well served by third seamer Peter Siddle, but few would have the reliable Victorian ahead of the explosive Cummins.

Starc has a better strike rate than Lillee and Thomson and ­Hazlewood has a better average than Lee, Gillespie and Thomson.

Ominously for England, ­Cummins’ 52.5 strike rate — lower than Lee’s, Gillespie’s or Lindwall’s — is despite the burgeoning quick having never played a Test in ­Australia. Yes, Cummins career is a small sample but the way he led the attack in the Bangladesh ­swelter was a mark of his quality and newly found durability.

Even more ominously, after four Tests in a row Cummins has stopped worrying about breaking down. He finally feels like he ­belongs in the Baggy Green.

“The Test tour of India earlier this year was a big breakthrough for me,” Cummins has told the PlayersVoice website.

“It had all felt so unattainable for so long. In many ways, it was like a second Test debut.

“I think I was selected for those final two Tests under the assumption that I wasn’t going to bowl too many overs because we were on the subcontinent, the first two matches hadn’t gone that long and spinners were dominating.

“But I ended up carrying pretty decent workloads in both those Tests. It changed from, ‘I’m playing a Test again,’ to, ‘I’m an unrestricted cricketer again.’

“The challenge to that point had been getting through overs and the body holding together.”

The body is holding together very nicely thanks very much and if it stays that way the hosts can be confident of reclaiming the urn.

Never have the hopes of so many Australians rested with so few, given the home side’s myriad problems.

Dumping Matt Renshaw for Cameron Bancroft might have seemed a no-brainer given the ­latter’s stellar form. But Bancroft averaged only 28 in the Shield last summer so — as brightly as he has shone in recent weeks — has no sustained form to speak of.

Shaun Marsh’s latest recall has been greeted with derision from his many critics who point to his moderate Test average (36) and his propensity for fishing outside off stump.

And picking Tim Paine, whose talent is undisputed but whose fingers have been likened to a robust brand of pappadums, is a sign of the selectors’ desperation. So it’s in the quicks we trust and nothing will save the Australians if one or more of the big three breaks down.

After claiming top spot in the rankings early last year, the ­Australians have tumbled to fifth and it might not end there, given how the sixth-placed Sri Lankans are taking it up to India in the first Test at Eden Gardens.

A further fall might spell trouble for James Sutherland, Pat ­Howard and even Darren Lehmann. No one will be safe if the Ashes remain with England.

Lehmann’s faith in his attack has been demonstrated in him backing Nathan Lyon to play in Brisbane way back when the Australians were still in Bangladesh.

That faith in the bowlers has been underlined by the selectors picking the elder Marsh ahead of a batting allrounder at No 6.

“We didn’t play (an allrounder) last summer for a while, so we’re comfortable with the three fast bowlers and Lyon,” Lehmann said yesterday. “We’re really comfortable we can get 20 wickets.”

For their part the tourists are building nicely ahead of what is likely to be a rain-affected Gabba Test — up to 8mm has been forecast for day three on Saturday.

Asked to sum up the squad’s mood after landing in Brisbane yesterday, keeper Jonny Bairstow said “content, relaxed and ­excited”.

Coach Trevor Bayliss was very happy with the way the English were building and said they were “very close” to settling on their XI for the Gabba. “Everyone’s fit and raring to go,” he said. “We’re not here to make up the numbers. We’re here to win.”