Australia are currently leading 2-0 in the five-match series and a win at the MCG will take them to the Ashes.
Melbourne, Australia will give a chance to fast bowler Scott Boland to make his Test debut in the third Ashes Test match starting on Sunday, while England have made their Test debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Four changes have been made in his team for the match. Boland was picked in the squad earlier this week and has been given his chances with fast bowlers Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser being ruled out due to hamstring strains.
Josh Hazlewood is already out with an injury, which means captain Pat Cummins and Boland are the two new additions to the Australian XI. Cummins missed the second Test in Adelaide due to close contact with a person infected with COVID-19 and was replaced by Steve Smith while Neser got the chance to make his debut. Cummins will now lead the team again.
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“Joy and Neser are suffering from a hamstring strain after the Adelaide Test and so we decided to have Scotty in the squad,” Cummins said on the eve of the match. Australia are currently leading 2-0 in the five-match series and a win at the MCG will take them to the Ashes. Australia is gearing up for this while England are eager to make a comeback.
England have also made four changes to their squad to keep the series alive. He has not kept opener Rory Burns, fast bowler Stuart Broad, Olly Pope and Chris Woakes in the team.
Fast bowler Mark Wood and spinner Jack Leach will make a comeback in the playing XI, while Jacques Crawley and Jonathan Bairstow will play their first Test in the series. England have also confirmed that Jos Buttler will continue to be the wicketkeeper even if Bairstow joins the team. Butler is confident that his team will be able to make a comeback in the series from the Boxing Day Test match.
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“We certainly didn’t come here just to participate in the match and to give the 70,000 spectators a chance to celebrate another Australia win,” Butler said. “We have to come back,” he said. We want to win the series. We want to win this Test match.” The teams are as follows:
Australia : David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.
England: Joe Root (captain), Haseeb Hameed, Jacques Crowley, David Malan, Ben Stokes, Jonathan Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson. (agency)