(KEN PIESSE is a senior sportswriter who has covered cricket for more than 35 years.)

Maybe Kevin Pietersen is right. Maybe only three Australians are good enough to be in England's best XI right now.

But he's forgetting a fourth, a genuine wildcard who can swing the Ashes Australia's way.

Bricklayer-turned-cricketer Ben Hilfenhaus loves bowling in the heavier humidity of the tropics and at the ‘Gabba, venue for the first Test from November 25, he shapes as Australia's most important player, ahead even of team leaders Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke.

Hilfenhaus's banana-like out-swinger can allow the much-criticised Australians to start the new Ashes summer on a thankful high after recent humiliating losses at all three levels of the game.

No other Australian pace bowler, even Mitchell Johnson who has the most wickets since the 2009 Ashes, has a more significant role, especially given Australia's enviable record of 22 years without a defeat in Brisbane.

The team is showing a rare vulnerability right now, both in its batting and bowling stocks, but Hilfenhaus can help grab the early momentum and once ahead early, Australian sides have proved to be almost impossible to run down.

Only once since the Second World War has England been able to come back and win the Ashes having lost the opener in Brisbane. This was in 1954-55 when emerging paceman Frank Tyson sunk the Aussies mid series, his seven for 27 in the New Year Test in Melbourne among the most devastating spells in Ashes annals.

No-one approaching Tyson's intimidating pace is in England's line-up this time. Its match winner is a common finger-spinner, albeit a good one in reformed good time boy Graeme Swann.

Hilfenhaus' only home Test last summer was in Brisbane where he was man-of-the-match with five key wickets in the three day demolition of the West Indies.

A knee breakdown sidelined him until July when he re-took his place as Australia's frontline new ball bowler in the two winter-time Tests against Pakistan in England.

Hilfenhaus knows he is one of the Australian keys and he is thirsting for the start of the Test summer.

"It's every kid's dream to play in an Ashes" he said. "I can't wait for it to start.

"I played in the last one over there in England. It was very disappointing. Everyone is keen to get a bit of revenge and reclaim these Ashes."

Australia's new pace leader is on the verge of 50 Test wickets and hopes he can "stay on the park" and be at his fittest come Brisbane and November 25.

Despite taking only two wickets in his opening Shield match of the season, against the Victorians in Melbourne last week, Hilfenhaus insists he is bowling well and improving all the time.

"That's cricket, you can bowl well and get none-for or bowl not as well and get a bag. The more I'm bowling the better things are getting. I want to be hitting the ground running by the first Test."

Noted for his out-swing a la Craig McDermott, the big Queenslander who took almost 300 Test wickets, 27-year-old Hilfenhaus has two more first-class matches before the first Test: Queensland at Bellerive from Wednesday and a full-strength NSW the following week.

Fast bowlers need work and three first-class fixtures in a month, especially after his rigorous winter of touring is an ideal preparation for the softly-spoken speedster set to surprise.