Head fit as Australia announced XI for Boxing Day

Australia have received the ultimate Christmas presents Travis Head has been cleared to play the Boxing Day Test against India and will be joined by MCG hero Scott Boland.

Captain Pat Cummins confirmed his team would make two changes for the fourth NRMA Insurance Test in Melbourne, with Sam Konstas making his debut (replacing Nathan McSweeney) and Boland replacing the injured Josh Hazlewood.

Australia XI: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

There were concerns about the fitness of the hosts' leading batsman, Head, who was revealed to have suffered a quad strain during the Brisbane Test.

In what was otherwise a relaxed optional training session on Christmas Day, Head underwent a rigorous fitness test involving running exercises within sight of where the families of Australian players milled around the MCG outfield.

But Cummins told reporters that the left-hander, who also had a short net session, had ticked all the boxes and would be right to play against India from Thursday.

“Trav is ready to go, he will play,” the Australian skipper said. “He checked off some final things today and yesterday. But you don't have to worry about an injury with Trav. He will start the match fully fit.”

“I don't think you'll see too much management from him during the game. He's just playing as he is. Maybe if he's a little bit uncomfortable we'll manage him, but he's fully fit.”

Head would have been a huge loss for the home side – he has more than double the points of the next best performing Australian batsman in this series.

“It feels like he's been in incredible form over the last 12 months and he's just going to keep going,” Cummins said.

“He hits the ball very cleanly. You can see the pressure he literally puts back on the opponent from the first ball he walks out.

“I love having him in our team and I don't have to try to create a field and bowl to him. He's hitting the ball as well as I've ever seen anyone. Long may this continue.”

Josh Inglis was the likely standby for Head, with the uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman also one of a handful of Australians to take the opportunity to train on Wednesday.

But his wait for a Baggy Green continues for now.

Not so for Konstas, who will earn his cap on the biggest day in the Australian cricket calendar in front of a sold-out Boxing Day crowd.

Australia have not produced a player as young as the 19-year-old since Cummins' own debut as an 18-year-old in 2011.

Konstas will be his country's youngest ever opener and his age gap with Usman Khawaja is believed to be the largest between opening partners in Test history.

Cummins reflected on his own Test debut in Johannesburg 13 years ago and said: “It's pretty amazing. I wondered for a while why or how I got there and how it happened so quickly. I remember being very excited .” .

“I think it's similar to Sammy this week. There's a level of naivety that you just want to go out and play, like you do as a kid in the backyard. You just want to play the game, have fun and think about it don't think about it too much.

“That's the message to Sam. That's definitely how I felt as an 18-year-old. I was just really excited, and as soon as the game started, you go into game mode and it's just like any other game.”

The Australia captain made the press laugh when he said: “I remember as an 18-year-old thinking, 'I have a lot more leeway because I was young' – almost publicly – so I almost felt like, if I didn't have a great game, it wasn't my fault – it was the fault of the selectors who picked me.

“I thought, 'well, those are the idiots who picked an 18-year-old!'

“You're so young when you start your career, it's Boxing Day, it doesn't get any better than this. So just enjoy the moment.”

Boland is back after a strong first performance in 18 months in the second Test against India in Adelaide, taking five wickets as Hazlewood missed with a side strain. The latter has since suffered a series-ending calf injury.

Coach Andrew McDonald joked he wouldn't be able to show his face at the MCG if they didn't pick hometown hero Boland, whose 6-7 on Test debut in the 21-22 Ashes has become part of iconic folklore of the location.

“He bowled beautifully in Adelaide,” Cummins said of Boland. “Every time he gets his chance, he steps in and looks like he is one of the best bowlers in the world.

“I expect much the same from him. He loves bowling here, he's probably played more than anyone here at the MCG in our team. He's prepared really well.

“It's pretty great that even with an unfortunate injury like Josh's, you can have someone like Scotty come in seamlessly.”

India did not train on Christmas Day and will announce their XI during the toss on Boxing Day.

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series vs India

First test: India won by 295 runs

Second test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third test: Match drawn

Fourth test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT

Fifth test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT

Australian selection: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc , Beau Webster

Indian selection: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep , Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal