Australia Looks Extend Led as Clark Fit

Adelaide: Captain Michael Clarke is fit and will take his place in an unchanged Australian lineup for the second Ashes test against England.

Australia won the series-opening match by 381 runs in Brisbane -- its first win in 10 tests and has retained the winning combination, with Clarke overcoming a mild ankle injury and saying he's "100 percent" ready to play starting Thursday at Adelaide.

Clarke batted in the nets and did fielding drills on Wednesday to test his sore right ankle. He rolled awkwardly on the ankle on Monday and missed practice on Tuesday.

It's the first time in almost a year that Australian selectors have an unchanged starting XI.

The first test ended acrimoniously with rival players trading insults on the pitch and Clarke fined because he used an expletive during an exchange with England tailender Jimmy Anderson that was heard on the TV broadcast.

England will make enforced changes after Jonathan Trott quit the tour after the first test and returned home due to a stress-related illness. That will mean a new batsman coming in at No. 6, and either Joe Root or Ian Bell moving up the order to bat at No. 3.

There's also likely to be a change in the bowling attack, with either Tim Bresnan coming in to support the seamers or Monty Panesar coming in as a second spin option.

After initially saying he wouldn't be drawn on England's team selection, Clarke offered a couple of suggestions to his rivals.

He said he'd like to see Panesar coming into the starting XI, but thought England would recall Bresnan for his first test since August, bring Gary Ballance to bat at No. 6 and move Root up to No. 3.

England has won the last three Ashes series, including a 3-1 win on its last tour to Australia in 2010-11.

Kevin Pietersen scored 227 in the last Ashes test in Adelaide, which England won by an innings.

Teams

Australia: David Warner, Chris Rogers, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke (captain), Steve Smith, George Bailey, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon. 12th man: James Faulkner.

England (from): Alastair Cook (Captain), Michael Carberry, Joe Root, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Matt Prior (wk), Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Steven Finn, Monty Panesar, Boyd Rankin

Pitch and conditions
Adelaide is typically known as a batting friendly pitch but that has been even more so this summer in the Sheffield Shield, following the move to drop-in pitches as part of the redevelopment of the venue. The forecast is for a few morning showers on day one, and possible showers on days four and five.

Stats and trivia

• Pietersen needs 69 runs to each of 8000 run mark and Alastair Cook also within reach of the 8000-run mark in Tests, he requires 121.
• Despite Clarke's success in Adelaide, Brad Haddin has a higher Test average at the venue, having scored 366 runs at 122.00 in his four Tests there

Match facts
December 5-9, 2013
Start time 1030 local (0000 GMT)