Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and decided to bat in the opening Test against Pakistan at Perth Stadium on Thursday. David Warner will pad up for what is expected to be his final Test series and is under pressure to score runs to keep his place on a hard and bouncy pitch. The only change for Australia from the team that started their last Test against England at the Oval in July is the return of fit-again spinner Nathan Lyon in place of Todd Murphy. Lyon has 496 Test wickets and is on the verge of joining just seven other Test bowlers to breach the 500-mark. “We play pretty well here, have a good record. An Aussie ground with pace and bounce,” said Cummins. New Pakistan captain Shan Masood included two debutants in his side, adding pacemen Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad to an attack spearheaded by Shaheen Shah Afridi. They have no specialist spinner. Pakistan have performed poorly in Australia, losing 14 Tests on the trot with their last win in 1995. “We wanted to have a bat as well,” Masood said. “You have to put the toss aside and put in a good bowling performance.” Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood Pakistan: Shan Masood (capt), Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shahzad Umpires: Richard Illingworth (ENG), Joel Wilson (WIS) TV umpire: Michael Gough (ENG) Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)
First Test: Australia win toss, elect to bat against Pakistan
