Australia announce playing XI for Brisbane Test, Alex Carey to make debut

Australia have named their playing eleven for the opening Ashes Test, starting Wednesday, December 8 at The Gabba in Brisbane. Alex Carey, who has already played 45 ODIs and 38 T20Is in national colours, is set to make his debut in the longest format. The southpaw has replaced Tim Paine, who has taken an indefinite break from cricket after the infamous sexting scandal.

Carey, however, has played 45 first-class matches where he has notched nearly 2500 runs with five centuries and 13 half-centuries. Pat Cummins, the Aussie Test skipper, said that it was a tough call to select one between Travis Head and Usman Khawaja before he picked the former. Khawaja, 34, will turn 35 later this month and he’s been in and out of the team for quite a while.

Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and skipper Cummins will take charge of the pace attack. Nathan Lyon remains their lone spin-bowling option. Head coach Justin Langer, in the meantime, on Saturday, talked about the pace trio’s preparations despite the wet ground conditions in Brisbane.

I’m happy with the way they’re going, says Justin Langer

“(Their preparation) has been excellent. 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,” Langer was quoted as saying in cricket.com.au.

“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,” he added.

Australia’s 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.

England skipper, Joe Root, on the contrary, refrained from naming a playing before all-important Test in Brisbane. He talked about assessing the conditions a bit more before taking a final call regarding the playing eleven. “We’ve got all the options on the table (but) we’re not going to name a team just yet,” Root told.