Australia makes final selection call for Boxing Day, will bat first at MCG – sportingnews.com

Peter Maniaty
We already knew Josh Inglis, Pat Cummins and Todd Murphy wouldn’t be playing in the fourth Ashes Test.
Now we know who is.
Australian stand-in captain Steve Smith has confirmed Western Australia’s Jhye Richardson, 29, will play his first Test in four years, while 36-year-old Michael Neser has also come back into the side.
Both fast bowlers had been seen marking their run-ups at the MCG ahead of the toss on Friday morning, as was hometown hero Scott Boland, indicating Brendan Doggett was set to be unlucky man to miss out and carry the drinks.
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With no full-time spinner selected for either squad and the match set to begin in cool and overcast conditions, it was no surprise England captain Ben Stokes elected to bowl first after winning the toss on a pitch expected to offer plenty of early assistance to the bowlers.
“There’s a nice coverage of grass so we think it’s going to be quite hard work (batting) with that early ball this morning,” Stokes said at the toss.
“We would have bowled first too,” Steve Smith confirmed.
The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England gets underway at 10:30am local time in Melbourne (AEDT).
Peter Maniaty is a contributing Wires Writer at The Sporting News based in Sydney, Australia

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