Ashes 2019: Langer Confirms Cummins, Pattinson Will Lead Australian Pace Attack In 1st Test

Australia head coach Justin Langer confirmed on Tuesday that Pat Cummins and James Pattinson will be leading Australia's seam attack against England in the opening Ashes Test at Birmingham. Langer added that one of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood or Peter Siddle will play the role of the third seamer in the Ashes opener. The Australian coach also revealed that Usman Khawaja had passed his fitness tests and would surely make the cut in Australia's playing eleven for the opening Test that starts at Edgbaston on Thursday (August 1). "We'll talk to the boys in the next day or so and try and solidify the 12 anyway, so everyone's really clear where we're at. There's probably three to be fair, Starcy, Peter Siddle and Josh Hazlewood for one spot. Three pretty good players to try to find a spot for, I reckon," he said. There's been a significant buzz around Pattinson ever since he returned to full fitness and was inevitably back taking wickets in shield cricket. And it looked rather obvious that the Victorian pacer would get the nod while Cummins has been, by far, Australia's best Test pacer over the last 18 months. And with the amount of experience Siddle has in English conditions - he has taken 71 wickets at an average of less than 20 across two seasons for Essex - he could come through ahead of Starc and Hazlewood, who've been Australia's new-ball pair for nearly four years now. Siddle also outbowled the pair during the warm-up game in Southampton with Hazlewood still feeling his way back in after a lengthy injury layoff and Starc still finding his Test bowling rhythm after a remarkable World Cup campaign with the ball. Langer though was quick to quash suggestions that the fast bowlers would be "rotated" during the Ashes and insisted that the "best three" would be picked for each match based on conditions. "They won't be rotated as such, like in the World Cup we'll pick the best three or four for every game we play. Lord's is very different to here, Old Trafford's going to be different, so that's how," he said. "We won't rotate them per se, but we'll just pick the best three, probably not four, but three for every game. It won't be different opposition, certainly different conditions."