Team Australia announces their playing 11 for the Ashes opener: Read here

Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has named his eleven for the Ashes opener against England. Alex Carey is set to make his Test debut while Mitchell Starc has also made the cut ending speculations whether he would part of the final eleven.

Another important call has been the inclusion of Travis Head ahead of Usman Khawaja with Cummins saying it was a close fight between the two for the middle-order spot.

“It was a tight one. Both really good options, really strong form,” said Cummins. “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.”

Cummins replaced Tim Paine as Australia Test captain following the texting scandal. David Warner will have Marcus Harris as his opening partner followed by Marnus Labuschagne at no. 3.

England captain Joe Root though has delayed confirming his final eleven saying he would do so for the series opener in Brisbane opener after having a  look at the pitch.

“We’ve got all the options on the table (but) we’re not going to name a team just yet,” Root was quoted as saying by sen.com.au.

“We’ll have to see the closer forecast 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,” he added.

Australia’s confirmed Ashes XI: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capatain), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.