Match Facts...
Matches: Australia v England at Perth
Series/Tournaments: England tour of Australia
Teams: Australia | England
December 16-20, Perth
Start time (10:30 local | 02:30 GMT | 08:00 IST)
The Big Picture...
All both teams want for Christmas is a win, but Australia would settle for a draw as a way of stopping the damage from an opponent showing few weaknesses.
England have never secured the urn before Christmas in their 133-year history of visits Down Under, and they may never have a better chance.
It's young talent time for the hosts, with Steven Smith (21), Phillip Hughes (22) and Michael Beer (26) coming in, and Mitchell Johnson in favour again after a week spent in the WACA nets.
Watch out for...
Mitchell Johnson is back. That would have been a scary line once, but over the past two years he has become a man of mystery. Dropped for the first time in his Test career after going wicket-less in Brisbane, Johnson has trained his way back after an intense week working with Troy Cooley, the bowling coach.
The new dad James Anderson has been to Lancashire and back over the past week to be at the birth of his second child.
Team news...
Australia's big question surrounds whether to play Peter Siddle, the bowler who started the series with six wickets on the opening day in Brisbane. Siddle hasn't claimed a victim in Australia's past two innings and Ryan Harris jumped ahead of him in Adelaide.
Pitch and conditions...
Perth is always talked up as a fast man's favourite but over the past decade it has disappointed. Every year there is excited chatter from the locals that this time it will recapture its past glories.Sunny conditions are forecast throughout the game, with maximum temperatures above 30C.
Stats...
Australia have succeeded in 21 of 39 games here, with only nine losses. Five of those were against West Indies.
Ricky Ponting is the leading the run-scorer in Tests at the WACA with 933, two more than Allan Border. David Gower is the best of the overseas players with 471 in five matches.
If Alastair Cook is wanting to add the highest score at the WACA to his Brisbane ground record, he must beat Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003-04.
Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Phillip Hughes, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Steven Smith, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Michael Beer, 10 Ryan Harris, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.
England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Graeme Swann, 9 James Anderson, 10 Chris Tremlett, 11 Steven Finn.
Note:
"We are priming ourselves to play our best game so far in the series and we know we have to do it by a long way if we want to win the game."
by Ricky Ponting
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