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England bowling consultant Southee is still working through what his involvement will be during the forthcoming Ashes contest in the host nation.

The former New Zealand pace bowler is expected to be present for the first Test due to his involvement in the International League T20 competition, which begins on December 2 in the UAE.

The 36-year-old, 36, assumed a position as the English team's fast bowling consultant in the summer after taking 391 wickets in 107 Test matches for New Zealand.

Commenting as the English team for the opening of three Twenty20 games against the Kiwis was announced, Southee said of his availability: "We're still working through that at the moment.

"We'll see what happens over the next little while."

English bowling legend Broad had declared the Australian team as their "worst team since 2010", but Southee was in little doubt over what to expect during the contest, which begins on 21 November.

"I don't think there's at any time a bad Australian cricket team," he said.

"The team's attention is squarely on what we're trying to do. In my opinion the caliber of [England's] team that's heading out to the host country is excellent.

"It should be an absolute cracker, the Ashes. Not only [are|do] fans from both nations looking forward to it, I think the whole cricket world is."

But, prior to England travel to the city of Perth for the first Ashes match, they face New Zealand in the city of Christchurch on Saturday.

England's Playing XI v the Kiwis:

• Salt

• Jos Buttler

• Jacob Bethell

• Brook (captain)

• Banton

• Sam Curran

• Jordan Cox

• Carse

• Liam Dawson

• Rashid

• Luke Wood