The Ashes: fifth Test day 1 Q&A, from 9:30am AEDT

The fifth and final Ashes Test commences at the Sydney Cricket Ground today and all eyes are on Australia’s quest for a well-deserved 5-0 series whitewash.

Neither Australia nor England finalised their squads yesterday, preferring instead to delay naming their final XI just prior to the toss.

Australia look to be heading for a fifth straight Test with the same XI, though there is suggestion England could name anywhere up to three debutantes.

Ryan Harris and Shane Watson remain the only players under a cloud for Australia, with Michael Clarke initially telling the press yesterday, “We’ll wait and see how they pull up in the morning,” before then suggesting he expected both players to be passed fit.

Australian also seem to expect England ‘keeper Matt Prior will come straight back in, after being dropped for Melbourne.

“I think he averages over 40, he’s been an important player for England for a long time,” Clarke said.

“You can see the benefit of Brad Haddin in our side. I think Matty’s very similar in terms of his worth to the England side.”

This will be one selection the Australians have guessed wrong, though, with Alastair Cook suggesting Jonny Bairstow deserved to hold his spot, and that Prior needed to get back into the England side via the county scene.

“He’s still a fantastic cricketer, he’s 31 maybe? He’s still got a lot of Test cricket available to him if he wants it and he goes back to scoring runs for Sussex and pushing hard whoever’s the keeper at the time,” Cook said yesterday.

Recently arrived leggie Scott Borthwick, paceman Boyd Rankin, and batsman Gary Ballance are all rumoured to be in line to make their Test debuts in the match at the expense of Monty Panesar, Tim Bresnan and Michael Carberry.

Cook did nothing to quell the suggestion yesterday, answering simply, “I think it’s possible, yes.”

Ballance coming into the side would nearly have to force Joe Root back into the opening position he occupied during the series in England, with Ian Bell moving up to first drop.

So with all this in mind, we can expect teams along these lines:

Australia: Michael Clarke (c), Chris Rogers, David Warner, Shane Watson, Steven Smith, George Bailey, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon.

England: Alastair Cook ©, Joe Root, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Garry Balance, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Boyd Rankin, Scott Borthwick, Jimmy Anderson.

There was light rain around when I arrived at the SCG mid-afternoon yesterday, and the covers were down across the entire wicket square.

Underneath, there is talk the pitch has a greener tinge than usual for a Sydney Test match but head groundsman Tom Parker has said he believes it will still provide the traditional turn for spinners on the last couple of days of the Test.

What will either team do after winning the toss?
With an extra day off after the fourth Test in Melbourne, I suspect Australia will want to get back into their groove of putting runs on the board from the outset, should Michael Clarke win a fifth consecutive toss.

Sydney is a ground where some consideration might be given to bowling first – and Australia did bowl last year – but even with a hit of green about the SCG wicket, Clarke will send the visitors in again.

What does England do, though? Do they try and put the runs on the board themselves, or is there enough faith in the battered and/or raw nature of the new English bowling attack to take ten Australian wickets with last use of a wicket that will get lower and slower as the match goes on.

What each team will want from the first session
There will be a little bit in this SCG wicket first up, and we’ll recall Australia took the field last year against Sri Lanka with four quicks and Nathan Lyon.

So once again, surviving that first hour becomes ultra important. The batting team will know that if they can get through to drinks unscathed, and remain intact by lunch, the runs will flow in the afternoon sessions.

The bowling side need to find how to use the conditions to the best effect as soon as possible, and then cash in. Early wickets in Sydney will be crucial, and could be the difference between chasing 250 or 300 in the reply.

Over the last five years, first innings par looks to be in the 260-270 range, though in that time Australia made 445 against South Africa batting first in 2009, but then only a rain delay stopped the Australians being rolled for 127 before Tea on day one against Pakistan in 2010.

Not unlike the Australian side, we’ve kept an unchanged line-up too, and the great Suneer Chowdhary will again have all the live in-play action covered from 10:30am AEDT.

Until then, we’ll discuss all the scenarios for the match – and how good the whitewash is going to feel – right here leading into the start of play.

Fire in your questions, and I’ll see you here for the build-up from 9:30am AEDT.

Hours of play
AEDT time – 1030-1230; 1310-1510; 1530-1730.