Head unlucky, Marsh adds bowling depth: Paine

Allrounder Mitchell Marsh has replaced vice-captain Travis Head in Australia’s 12-man squad for the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval.

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Marsh has come in to provide extra bowling cover in place of Head, who has averaged 27.28 in four Tests this English summer.

"Looking at the conditions and the series being a long and tough one, we've kept the bowling group that was together for the last Test match," Australia captain Tim Paine said on Wednesday.

AUSTRALIA XII: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Mitch Marsh, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (c, wk), Pat Cummins, Peter Siddle, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood (one to be omitted)

ENGLAND XI: Rory Burns, Joe Denly, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach

"They've bowled a lot of overs and we feel that bringing Mitchell in will ease a little bit of the workload on them.

"It was a really tough call on Travis Head, who's had a great start to his Test career but we wanted a bit more bowling depth in the squad to cover what looks like a really good wicket and to be able to look after our big fast bowlers.

"Mitchell Marsh has also had a couple of hundreds in Test cricket so we've got full faith in him doing the job with the bat as well."

Head started the series with scores of 35 and 51 in Birmingham before scoring a match-saving 42 not out on the final day of the second Test at Lord's.

The 25-year-old scored 0, 25, 19 and 12 in his next four innings, trapped lbw and bowled twice each, to lose his place in the side.

But Paine says Head has been the victim of Australia picking a side to suit the conditions and expects the left-hander to be wearing the Baggy Green once again in the near future.

"The reason Travis isn't playing is because we felt like we needed a little bit of extra bowling at the end of a long series," Paine explained.

"Mitch Marsh is our allrounder and like we have with our bowlers, it's not necessarily Travis being dropped.

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"We've been really clear with Travis on why he's not playing this game. He's had a fantastic start (to his Test career), he's played nine or 10 Tests and has got a very healthy average but we want to get the makeup right to win this Test match.

"Unfortunately we had to make a really tough call on someone and it happened to be Travis.

"He's a huge part of Australian cricket future, he's a gun young player and he's getting better all the time.

"It's disappointing for him he's not playing in this Test match. He'd dearly love to, obviously, but we'll go back to Australia, conditions will be different.

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"There's no doubt he's in the top six or seven batsmen in our country."

Opener David Warner, who has been dismissed for a duck in his past three innings, has held his spot and will again open the batting with Marcus Harris.

Paine confirmed the final XI will be named at the toss on Thursday, with the four-man bowling attack from the fourth Test as well as Peter Siddle all named in the squad.

Paceman James Pattinson misses out having played at Edgbaston and Headingley in his first Test series back after three-and-a-half years on the sidelines with injury.

Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will be given until match day to see how they recover from the Old Trafford Test, which concluded on Monday.

Cummins (24 wickets at 17.41) and Hazlewood (18 at 16.88) are Australia's leading wicket-takers in the series and captured 13 wickets between them at Old Trafford.

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It has been a particularly grueling northern summer for Cummins, who featured in all 10 of Australia's World Cup matches, the intra-squad tour match in Southampton and all four Ashes Tests.

Despite the immense workload, the 26-year-old has continued to maintain his express pace and extend his lead as the top-ranked Test bowler in the world.

Hazlewood's successful return to Test cricket after eight months on the sidelines has seen him vault into the top 10 Test bowlers at equal-eighth with New Zealand's Neil Wagner.

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Not since Steve Waugh's charges in 2001 has an Australian men's Test side won an Ashes series in England and should Paine's side avoid a loss at The Oval, the 18-year drought will be snapped.

England will be hoping to extend Australia's barren run by squaring the ledger at 2-2 to record the first drawn Ashes series in 47 years, when England retained the urn with a 2-2 result on home soil in 1972.

AUSTRALIA XII: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Mitch Marsh, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (c, wk), Pat Cummins, Peter Siddle, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood (one to be omitted)

ENGLAND XI: Rory Burns, Joe Denly, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Chris Woakes.

First Test: Australia won by 251 runs at Edgbaston

Second Test: Match drawn at Lord's

Third Test: England won by one wicket at Headingley

Fourth Test: Australia won by 185 runs at Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval