No Jonny Bairstow in England's 12-member squad for Gabba Test

In the bowling department, England have included left-arm spinner Jack Leach with five seam options – Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes. Both Woakes and Stokes offer all-round options and are likely to be named in the playing XI.

Earlier, England had announced that their leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, James Anderson, would not feature in the first Ashes Test as part of the pacer's workload management.

The visitors, however, will be bolstered by the inclusion of their star all-rounder, Stokes, who last played a Test in March. Since then, he was on a break, working on his mental health.

"He's been performing very nicely in the nets, and in that warm-up game he looks fit, he looks strong and he's hitting the ball well as well," said wicket-keeper batter Jos Buttler.

"It's a massive plus for us as a side with Ben being available to play. He brings so much to the team, not just with his skills set, but on the field his character we all know about as well.

"So to have him back amongst the ranks is a big lift for everyone in the dressing room."

Buttler also provided an update on Broad, who was dealing with a calf injury and said that the bowler is "good to go".

"Obviously, he had an injury at the end of the summer in England, but he's been coming back well from that.

"The build-up's been here, it's been a bit challenging in certain ways so he didn't have that time playing warm-up games as much as he could. But he bowled well in the nets yesterday, I faced him there and he looks pretty good," Buttler added.

England squad for first Test: Joe Root (c), Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Haseeb Hameed, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood