MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia will not try to replace the injured Nathan Lyon with another bowler in the fourth Ashes Test against England and will enter Friday's match with a dynamic 12-man squad.
After Lyon suffered a long-term hamstring injury in the Ashes win in Adelaide and then underwent surgery, off-spinner Todd Murphy was called into the squad. But because there was a lot of grass on the MCG pitch, Australia decided not to include Murphy when they named their squad on Thursday.
Captain Steve Smith will await the toss at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday before confirming his starting line-up.
England lost all of the first three Tests, allowing Australia to retain the Ashes after just 11 days of play.
Lyon and captain Pat Cummins will have Josh Inglis in the side, along with fast bowlers Jay Richardson, Brendan Doggett and Michael Neser.
Veteran left-hander Usman Khawaja was preferred over Inglis after scoring 82 and 40 in the third Test in Adelaide. Richardson is bidding for his first Test in more than four years after suffering a serious injury.
Doggett and Neser played in the second Test in Brisbane but were sidelined in Adelaide when Cummins and Lyon returned.
England named their team on Wednesday with the big news of losing star bowler Jofra Archer for the remainder of the series, including the fifth and final Test, which begins on January 4 in Sydney.
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Australia squad: Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (captain), Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jay Richardson, Brendan Doggett, Scott Boland.
England team: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brooke, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith, Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Braydon Carse, Josh Tong.
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AP Cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
