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Australia's Ashes plans hit as Shaun Marsh joins Warner as first Test doubt

Steve Smith
Australia captain Steve Smith had earlier spoken confidently about David Warner’s chances of playing. Photograph: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Australia have seen their plans thrown into jeopardy after being forced to fly in Glenn Maxwell as batting cover on the eve of the first Ashes Test amid injury doubts to both David Warner and Shaun Marsh.

Maxwell was already heading to Brisbane with Warner suffering a neck problem in the lead up to the curtain-raiser against England that has curtailed the opener’s practice. But Steve Smith’s side then saw their problems compounded further on Wednesday when Marsh, their slated No6, reported a sore back after Wednesday’s final training session.

Smith had earlier spoken confidently about Warner’s chances of playing, with the Australian vice-captain having netted in morning and shown improvement from the neck issue that he had picked up 24 hours earlier and had hampered his ability to look side on.

“Warner said he’ll even bat like Shivnarine Chanderpaul [the former West Indies left-hander noted for his quirky front-on stance] if he has to,” said Smith.

But later in the afternoon the news broke that Marsh is now struggling to be fit - the 34-year-old left-hander has a history of back and hamstring problems – and now Maxwell, the hard-hitting middler-order batsman who missed out on the original squad, is poised for a recall.

The injury issues are a late twist in a pre-series build-up that has been dominated by bullish Australian soundbites and references to the whitewash series win over England in 2013-14 – despite just three survivors in the home side to the tourists’ five.

There is no Mitchell Johnson, Australia’s destroyer-in-chief four years ago, but Smith was happy to talk up the pace of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who along with Josh Hazlewood and spinner Nathan Lyon will make up his four-man bowling attack.

“I think we saw last time England came out here, a few of the guys struggled with the extra bounce in the wicket – and I hope we can exploit that again,” said Smith, whose own leg-breaks will be needed to offer some respite for the quicks as a fifth bowling option.

“Thinking back to 2013-14, when Mitchell Johnson was bowling in the nets, these guys are just as nasty – if not more nasty, at the moment. A couple of the nets sessions I’ve had against Cummins and Starc have been quite scary. So that’s really exciting for us.”

Smith confirmed his team at the pre-match press conference – before the news about Marsh – by saying the reserve seamers Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers would miss out. His opposite number, Joe Root, then named his XI later in the day with Jake Ball getting the nod over Craig Overton.

Speaking before England’s final training session, Root described his players as calm before their attempt to end Australia’s 28-match unbeaten record at the Gabba. “I think we’re about due, to win here aren’t we?” said the Test captain.

“It’s the reason why Australia play the first Test of a series here, because they’ve got such a good record here. But what a way to start the series if we can go one up here. Then it really upsets the applecart. It could give us a lot of momentum going into the rest of it.”

On the prospect of facing Australia’s much-vaunted pace attack, Root added: “I think they’re three very talented cricketers. They’ve done some good stuff in the past but for all three of them it’s their first Ashes series in Australia. I’m sure they’ll be feeling the heat.”