New Victoria coach David Saker expects both James Anderson and Stuart Broad to fire in the upcoming Ashes.

Saker mentored England’s pace attack for five years, but recently left them to become senior coach of Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades.

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Both Anderson and Broad were largely ineffectual when Australia cruised to a 5-0 win in the 2013-14 Ashes at home.

But Saker says it would be wrong to write off the new-ball pairing given how they’ve recently performed against New Zealand.

“In this New Zealand Test series I think they’ve done really well,” he said in Melbourne on Tuesday.

“James Anderson is, in my opinion, as good a player as there is in the world.

“Stuart Broad, when the big games come along – and Australia is a big game, he seems to find something.”

Saker admits he will be sitting on the fence during the showpiece series and didn’t offer a prediction.

“It’s going to be an enthralling Test series. It’s going to be a bit of a battle with the bowlers. Whoever bowls well I think will win that series,” he said.