Scott Boland, slated to bowl for Victoria against Test hopeful Sam Konstas from Sunday in a NSW-Victoria Sheffield Shield match, and Queensland veteran Michael Nesser lead Australia’s pace reinforcements. Uncapped speedster Lance Morris is still recovering from a quad strain but is due to return in coming weeks.

Bowler-friendly conditions and strong performances helped keep Australia’s first-choice attack on the paddock last season, with none of the five home Tests going into a fifth and final day.

Green’s exit as a genuine fourth seam option does pose a dilemma, though. While he went wicketless during India’s last tour, he has claimed 22 wickets at an average of 20 on home soil since, often jagging key scalps when Australia needed a breakthrough.

Marsh insisted during the week that he can take on extra bowling duties despite rarely taking the ball last summer, and only bowling four overs at any level since tearing his hamstring during the IPL in April.

“It’s always going to change the dynamic when you take a genuine all-rounder like Cameron Green, or likewise with England when you take a Ben Stokes out,” Starc said.

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“When you have that genuine all-rounder, who’s been a part of a group for a while, you get into a bit of a routine with that extra bowling option. That’s going to change a little bit.

“I don’t know what the dynamic of that line-up is going to be, there is a lot of talk around that opening spot and Mitch (Marsh) bowling as well.

“It’s not completely foreign. We’ve had series in the past where we haven’t had an allrounder at all.

“We’ve had to take some of that workload, and Gaz (Nathan Lyon) has probably had to bowl a bit extra as well… There is obviously a big gap between the first and second Test and the third and fourth Test. That may play a part as well.

“We don’t know what wickets we’ll get, we don’t know how successful or unsuccessful we will be.”

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