(CRICKET.COM.AU) – Australia captain Pat Cummins confirms Josh Hazlewood and Cameron Green will play at Old Trafford with Victorians Scott Boland and Todd Murphy making way
Cameron Green and Josh Hazlewood are confirmed starters for the penultimate Ashes contest against England, with Australia to go into a Test without a specialist spinner for the first time in over a decade.
Scott Boland and Todd Murphy make way from the side that lost by three wickets at Headingley with the visitors confirming their XI in early hours of Monday morning Australian time.
Green, fit again after missing the Leeds Test with a hamstring injury, has been listed to bat at seven, behind Mitch Marsh at No.6, with wicketkeeper Alex Carey to come in at No.8 as the Aussies rejigged the balance of their side to squeeze in their two allrounders.
Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Josh Hazlewood
Marsh struck a blazing century in Leeds to guarantee his spot, leaving Murphy as the fall guy with Green coming back into the side to give captain Pat Cummins five pace bowling options.
By playing both Green and Marsh, Australia have significantly lengthened their batting line-up but will now rely on part-timers Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne for the balance of spin overs.
The forecast is clear for the first three days of the Test, with the weekend then expected to bring more showers when the young spinner would have been expected to have the most impact on the match.
Ben Stokes has admitted England might play even more aggressively in pursuit of a victory that will keep their hopes of regaining the urn alive, which could shorten the length of the Test even more.
