England to play debutant batsman

CB Series, Brisbane: Australia v England
Match starts Friday 0315 GMT
England will field at least one debutant batsman in their CB Series match against Australia in Brisbane.

On Friday, they return to Brisbane's Gabba - scene of the first Ashes Test defeat - missing injured pair Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen.

It means Mal Loye and Ravi Bopara, emergency additions to the squad will fight out a spare batting position.

Loye, 34, is an attacking opening batsman for Lancashire. Bopara, 21, bats in Essex's middle order.

It remains possible that both men could start, if England choose to to drop Middlesex's Ed Joyce.

Australia will be captained by wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist, with Ricky Ponting resting.

Premier pace pair Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee return having been out with a sore groin and a bout of bronchitis respectively.
Lee will start for the first time in the series, while McGrath missed the win against New Zealand after taking 2-40 in the opener against England.

Gilchrist said McGrath, despite his terrific record for Australia, could not feel entirely secure about his place in the side.

He said: "If the hard call had to be made throughout the tournament on one of the more experienced players, the selectors and team management would make it.

"I don't want to just single out Glenn. Whether it's a batsman or a keeper-batsman, that call will be made, there's no doubt about it.

"It's not a farewell tour for Glenn. Everyone's aware of that and no-one more so than Glenn."

Realistically, Australia are not expected to be threatened much by either England or New Zealand in the remainder of the series.

Victoria batsman Brad Hodge takes Ponting's place in the batting order, with Lee replacing Stuart Clark in the only other change to the team that beat England in Melbourne.

It means England's flaky batting unit faces the strongest bowling side Australia can put out in one-day cricket.

---

Australia: AC Gilchrist (captain, wkt), ML Hayden, BJ Hodge, MJ Clarke, A Symonds, MEK Hussey, CL White, NW Bracken, MG Johnson, GD McGrath, B Lee.

England (from): A Flintoff (captain), AJ Strauss, IR Bell, MB Loye, PD Collingwood, EC Joyce, RS Bopara, JWM Dalrymple, PA Nixon (wkt), JM Anderson, J Lewis, MS Panesar, CT Tremlett, SI Mahmood, LE Plunkett, CMW Read (wkt).

Umpires: DJ Harper & IL Howell (South Africa). Match referee: RS Madugalle (Sri Lanka)