The left-arm quick relishes the prospect of bowling to left-handed opener Strauss in the swing friendly English conditions.

''Over in South Africa I started to swing the ball and [Strauss] being a left handed batsman, it will go away from him,'' he said.

''I like bowling to lefties so that's something that I'm looking forward to. It's going to be a great challenge and he's been scoring a few runs but hopefully we can put a bit of pressure on him.''

Johnson said he'd be happy to hand over leadership of Australia's pace battery to the returning Brett Lee and Stuart Clark in the Ashes series.

However skipper Ricky Ponting may have other ideas after Johnson spearheaded the attack superbly against South Africa.

''[Carrying the attack] has been something that I never thought I could handle but I've done okay out of it and I'm looking forward to the experienced guys of Lee and Clark coming back in to show the way,'' Johnson said.

''Those guys are the senior guys and they've got the experience and they've been around to earn their positions.

''I'll be looking forward to those guys taking the leadership role and I'm not going to change anything in my game.

''In South Africa I had that leadership role and didn't change my game, I just tried to lead by example and things are going to be the same over in England hopefully.''

The Ashes will be Johnson's first time playing internationally in England and he's looking forward to getting more movement in the air in the swing-friendly conditions.

''It's a pretty big event for me and my first time over in England for a while,'' Johnson said.

''I was there when I was 17 playing Australian 19s, but I'll be looking to feed off the experienced guys that have played county cricket over there.

''It's a bit cooler and the wickets are a little bit softer and you tend to get a bit of movement early with the new ball and a little bit of swing here and there.'' AAP