Nottinghamshire spinner Graeme Swann has defended England’s approach to dealing a resurgent Australian pace attack spearheaded by Mitchell Johnson.

"Johnson has struck an absolute purple patch and is bowling very fast,” said Swann in his regular column in the Sun newspaper.

"I honestly don't think any of our batsmen are fearful for their physical safety."

“He might not be the most skilful bowler with what he does with the ball but he has that raw pace and is causing us problems.

"I honestly don't think any of our batsmen are fearful for their physical safety. Bowling of that pace certainly gets your heart-rate going and sometimes you see people play more shots than normal because of the surge of adrenalin.''

Swann has been left out of the England one-day squad set to face Australia following the conclusion of the Ashes series amid speculation that he may be poised to retire.

Gaining a foothold in the series is Swann’s immediate objective and he believes that England have become increasingly adept at dealing with Johnson’s short-pitched deliveries.

“We played him a lot better in the second innings in Adelaide and he finished with 1-73 and even that lone wicket came in his first over,” said Swann.

“So perhaps some of the novelty factor is wearing off and people are getting used to playing him. Hopefully, he will be far less effective for the remainder of the series."

Stuart Broad will feature in the ODI squad and will captain the team in three Twenty20 matches with Nottinghamshire teammates Michael Lumb and Alex Hales also set to feature.

England ODI squad
Alastair Cook (captain), Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Michael Carberry, Steve Finn, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Boyd Rankin, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell.

England Twenty20 squad
Stuart Broad (captain), Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Briggs, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach, Steve Finn, Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, Eoin Morgan, Boyd Rankin, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell, Luke Wright.