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          Australia bat first at the SCG

          Hilton Cartwright is in for his Test debut at the SCG Cricket Australia/Getty Images
          • Daniel Brettig, Assistant editor, ESPNcricinfo
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              Assistant editor Daniel Brettig had been a journalist for eight years when he joined ESPNcricinfo, but his fascination with cricket dates back to the early 1990s, when his dad helped him sneak into the family lounge room to watch the end of day-night World Series matches well past bedtime. Unapologetically passionate about indie music and the South Australian Redbacks, Daniel's chief cricketing achievement was to dismiss Wisden Almanack editor Lawrence Booth in the 2010 Ashes press match in Perth - a rare Australian victory that summer.
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          Jan 2, 2017, 11:28 PM

          Toss Australia chose to bat v Pakistan

          Australia's captain Steven Smith won the toss and chose to bat first against Pakistan in the New Year's Test match at the SCG.

          The hosts have included the allrounder Hilton Cartwright for his debut and also recalled the left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe as support for Nathan Lyon.

          Pakistan also made two changes, including the debut of the aggressive opener Sharjeel Khan in place of Sami Aslam. Imran Khan was also included at the expense of Sohail Khan.

          The Sydney pitch is dry, and can be expected to take spin from fairly early on in the game.

          Australia 1 Matt Renshaw, 2 David Warner, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Peter Handscomb, 6 Hilton Cartwright, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Steve O'Keefe, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon

          Pakistan (probable) 1 Sharjeel Khan, 2 Azhar Ali, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Yasir Shah, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Imran Khan