SYDNEY:

Chief selector George Bailey hailed "impressive" uncapped opener Jake Weatherald as having all the right attributes after he was named Wednesday in Australia's squad for the first Ashes Test.

In-form batsman Marnus Labuschagne was recalled, but young opener Sam Konstas was dropped from the 15-man squad that will be captained by Steve Smith in the injury-enforced absence of Pat Cummins.

Should the 31-year-old pad up against Ben Stokes's England, he will be the sixth opening partner for Usman Khawaja since David Warner retired early last year.

Previous experiments with Steve Smith, Nathan McSweeney, Travis Head, Labuschagne and Konstas did not pan out.

But Bailey would not say if Weatherald would definitely make his debut in Perth on November 21.

"No, not confirmed in the XI,"

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