Australia have named a pace-rich attack for the fourth Test against England in Manchester, which commences on Wednesday, July 18. Scott Boland has been replaced by Josh Hazlewood, while spinner Todd Murphy's place will be taken by Cameron Green, their skipper Pat Cummins confirmed a day before the match.
"Josh will come in for Scott Boland, and the top order will stay the same," Cummins said. "Part of the conversation is how do two allrounders fit in, is spin going to be important this week?"
Meanwhile, David Warner has also retained his place, and the pacer cum skipper had an explanation ready for the same. "Davey didn't have his best game last week at Headingley, but prior to that, he has looked really good. He has had three 50-run (opening) partnerships, which can be rare over in England," Cummins added.
Australia have not played a Test match without a specialist spinner since January 2012, when they faced India at the WACA with four specialist seamers. They were hit with an injury to Nathan Lyon in the second match after the reputed spinner played his 100th consecutive match.
Murphy got his first taste of Ashes at Headingley, dismissing Ben Stokes in the first innings before being given only two overs in the second. "Part of the conversation is how do two all-rounders fit in, is spin going to be important this week?" the Australia captain said. "We've played games with one quick, we've played some games with heaps of quicks. It's all really conditions-based.
"As I said last week about Toddy, I would have loved to bowl him a bit more but there wasn't a heap of overs in the game, the ball seemed to swing and seam a little bit. So that's certainly something to weigh up this week."
England need a win in the series that Australia lead the series 2-, with a draw required for the visitors to retain the urn.
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