Marnus Labuschagne backed in as Australia choose to bowl against England

Australia have won the toss and elected to bowl in their Champions Trophy opener against England in Lahore.

Captain Steve Smith confirmed at the toss that out-of-form batter Marnus Labuschagne had been selected, while wicketkeepers Alex Carey and Josh Inglis have both won a spot in the XI.

“He (Carey) has been batting really nicely,” Smith told Prime.

“The two keepers played together in the Test matches we just played (against Sri Lanka), and it worked out really well. Both are quality batters.”

Australia enter the Champions Trophy missing a host of their best players.

Star pace trio Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are out, along with injured allrounder Mitch Marsh.

Marcus Stoinis retired in the lead-up to the tournament.

Labuschagne’s spot in Australia’s ODI set-up has been heavily questioned following his dramatic drop in form in the Test arena.

The 30-year-old has also struggled in ODI cricket of late, failing to surpass 19 in his past six innings.

But he has been given the chance to shine against England, named to bat at No.4, behind Matt Short, Travis Head and Smith.

Australia have included left-arm seamers Spencer Johnson and Ben Dwarshuis alongside right-armer Nathan Ellis as part of the new-look pace attack.

“(There will be) a little bit of swing up top. We’ll try and utilise that as much as possible,” Smith said when asked about the two left-arm seamers.

“It’s a match-up thing, so that’s why we went with that.”

England have included injury-prone pace star Jofra Archer.

AUSTRALIA: Matt Short, Travis Head, Steve Smith (capt), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

ENGLAND: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith, Joe Root, Jos Buttler (capt), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood