Cummins reveals Australia's playing XI for Ashes opener at Gabba

Australia Test captain Pat Cummins on Sunday revealed the team's playing XI for the opening Test of the impending Ashes series, beginning Wednesday at the Gabba in Brisbane. Travis Head got the nod as Australia's No.5 batter in the line-up while pacer Mitchell Starc retained his place. 

Admitting it to be a "tight one" between Head and Queensland captain Usman Khawaja for the middle-order position, the former was picked on the virtue of being a more recent representative for the Australian Test team.

"It was a tight one. Both really good options, really strong form," said Cummins.

"Experience is great from Uzzie and we feel really lucky to have that in the squad, but Trav's been playing a lot for us the last couple of years.

"He's gone away and he's churned out runs in England, here in Australia, and we feel like he's really ready to go."

Meanwhile, England skipper Joe Root opted to not disclose the playing XI so early. 

"We've got all the options on the table but we're not going to name a team just yet. We'll have to see the forecast and how that pitch changes over the next couple of days," cricket.com.au quoted Root as saying.

"But it's a great place to play spin. It's something we'll weigh up and consider, but we're not in a position to make that call right now," he added.

Earlier, Tim Paine had stepped down as the Australia captain after a sexting scandal and Cummins was appointed as the new leader. Steve Smith will don the hat of vice-captain.

Australia XI:

Marcus Harris, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.