AFP - England won the toss and put Australia into bat on the opening day of the fourth Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
England made one change from the team which went down by 267 runs in the third Perth Test with Tim Bresnan replacing leading series wicket-taker Steve Finn.
Australia named an unchanged team preferring to go with their four-prong pace attack, meaning there was no room for uncapped left-arm spinner Michael Beer.
England captain Andrew Strauss elected to bowl on a greenish-tinged drop-in pitch under cloudy skies.
The series is locked at 1-1 with England only needing to win one of the remaining two Tests to retain the Ashes.
England last won a famous victory here in 1998 with Dean Headley taking 6-60 in the second innings as the tourists won by just 12 nail-biting runs.
Australia's only loss at the MCG this decade was against South Africa two years ago as the Proteas went on to win their first-ever series in Australia.
Officials are anticipating a world record crowd in excess of 91,000 for the opening day's play.
The single-day MCG record is 90,800 against the West Indies in 1961.
The corresponding Boxing Day crowd on the last Ashes tour in 2006 attracted 89,155.
Teams
Australia - Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus
England - Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Tony Hill (NZL)
TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)
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