Australia finalise first Ashes Test team, Mitchell Starc retains place

Melbourne: The newly appointed Test captain of Australia Pat Cummins on Sunday confirmed the playing XI for the first Ashes Test against England, with Mitchell Starc retaining his place and Travis Head to bat at no.5.

The first Test is scheduled to take place from December 8 to 12 at the Gabba.

Talking about Travis' inclusion in the line-up, Cummins said that it was a tough call between Usman Khwaja and Travis to bat at no.5 position.

"It was a tight one. Both really good options, really strong for. Experience is great from Uzzie and we feel really lucky to have that in the squad, but Trav’s been playing a lot for us the last couple of years.

"He’s gone away and he’s churned out runs in England, here in Australia, and we feel like he’s really ready to go” he said.

Australia's selectors seemed to have trusted the combination of Cummins, Starc and Josh Hazlewood who have collected a combined 631 wickets in the red-ball cricket.

Starc was skeptical of keeping his place in the playing XI, especially with Jhye Richardson, who took 15 wickets in his last two Sheffield Shield matches - including eight wickets at the Gabba last month.

Australia head coach Justin Langer strongly backed the preparations of the current pace trio despite the Brisbane weather in the lead-up.

"(Their preparation) has been excellent," Langer said. "We had some brilliant centre-wicket practice (at Metricon Stadium), we always thought that their workloads coming from the World Cup and because we went so deep, that we might've had to work a bit harder on that, but they've been great.

"They've had three or four centre-wicket sessions, and you saw how the boys bowled (Saturday) – they're up and about, and they're very confident after the World Cup, and with the experience of their careers. So I'm happy with the way they're going."

Meanwhile, England skipper Joe Root has decided not to announce the playing XI three days ahead of the match, but stated that Jack Leach will remain in contention to play.

"We've got all the options on the table (but) we're not going to name a team just yet. We'll have to see the closer forecase and how that pitch changes over the next couple of days.

"But it's a great place to play spin. It's something we'll weigh up and consider, but we're not in a position to make that call right now,” Root said.

Australia playing XI: Marcus Harris, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood. (UNI)