Australia opts for all-pace attack in fourth Ashes Test

Australia will take an all-pace attack into the fourth Ashes Test, skipper Steve Smith said Thursday, while Josh Inglis was dropped with selectors preferring Usman Khawaja.

The hosts head into the Boxing Day Test with an unassailable 3-0 lead over England, but are without pace spearhead Pat Cummins and veteran spinner Nathan Lyon.

Cummins is being managed after his return in the third Adelaide Test after a lengthy lay off with a lower back injury and will play no further part in the Ashes.

Lyon had surgery this week for a torn hamstring and faces a long recovery.

Todd Murphy was called up as cover for Lyon, but Smith said they had opted for a pace attack given the “quite furry” surface at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“We’re going to be playing four quicks and no spinner. (The pitch) has 10 millimetres of grass, quite furry, quite green,” he said.

“I dare say it’s going to offer quite a bit, particularly if (day one) is similar conditions to today, quite cold and overcast so I dare say there’s going to be quite a bit of movement.

“You just got to play what surface you’re presented with,” he added.

“This one looks like it’s going to offer a fair bit of assistance for the seam bowlers and the weather throughout the week looks conducive for that too.”

Australia named a 12-man squad with a final decision on who leads the attack alongside Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland being made at the toss.

One of Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, or Brendan Doggett will miss out.

Doggett and Neser played in the second Test in Brisbane, but made way in Adelaide when Cummins and Lyon returned.

Richardson is in his first squad for four years after three shoulder surgeries.

Smith missed the third Test with vertigo symptoms and will slot back in at number four.

Khawaja filled his role in Adelaide, hitting 82 and 40, and slides down to five ahead of Alex Carey and Cameron Green, with Inglis missing out.

Smith, who captained Australia in the first two Tests during Cummins’ absence, said he was fully recovered and feeling “100 percent” fit.

“I was watching in the hotel those first two days (in Adelaide) and wished I could have been out there, but it was the right call at that stage because I was struggling,” he said of his vertigo, an issue that has plagued him before.

Australia XII: Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (capt), Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson