Hobart the home stage for final Ashes chapter

Australia vs England, fifth Test
Bellerive Oval (Blundstone Arena), Hobart
January 14-18, 3:00pm local

Bolstered by the return of Travis Head, Australia will go into the final match of the series confident despite England's match-saving efforts in Sydney.

Head replaces Marcus Harris in the side, with Usman Khawaja keeping his place after his dual-century performance at the SCG.

On the bowling side, Australia are mulling the makeup of their attack, with Scott Boland's fitness and Mitchell Starc's workload both being considered.

To add to their tour woes, England are missing a number of regulars through injury.

Jos Buttler has returned home following his hand injury, with a Test debut for Sam Billings in the offing. Billings would become England's 700th Test player should he be selected.

Jonny Bairstow is also under an injury cloud, as well as Ben Stokes, who is set to play exclusively as a batter.

There's little time for an England series post-mortem, with future World Test Championship tours around the corner on top of the dozen points points on offer for the winner of Hobart day/night match. Questions have been raised in regards to England's side and Joe Root's captaincy, as a tour to the West Indies looms. For Australia, a long-awaited tour to Pakistan draws closer.

England enjoyed their share of the spoils in Sydney, fighting to save the draw with just one wicket in hand. Stuart Broad and James Anderson remained cool under the pressure of Australia's team hunting around the bat, claiming four WTC points for their team.

Earlier, Jonny Bairstow shook off a number of blows while batting to post the first century for the tourists in the series. Despite his best efforts, Australia held a strong lead off the back of Khawaja's first hundred, which was further solidified by the left hander's second.

Rain curtailed Australia's bowling plans, and ran out of time to take the final wicket late on day five.

Australian captain Pat Cumminson the range of performers in the series: "When you look back at previous Ashes, it's been Warner, Smith, Marnus, Joshy Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, so it's been great to have these other guys who have come in and felt comfortable enough that they can dominate straight away."

"It's been really pleasing and shows we don't have to be reliant on the same three, four players. Feel like anyone in the XI or the squad can be a match winner."

England captain Joe Rooton his side's fight in Sydney: "The guys were trying to put some pride back in the badge and show how much they care about playing for England."

"We didn’t win the Test match and were a very long way behind the game but we found a way to get a draw and that shows the character, the pride and the desire the guys feel when they put on an England shirt.”