England win toss, elect to bat

Chester-le-Street - England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat against Australia in the fourth Ashes Test at Chester-le-Street on Friday.

England were unchanged from the side that drew the third Test at Manchester's Old Trafford on Monday - a result that saw holders England retain the Ashes at 2-0 up with two to play in the five-match series.

That meant there was no Test recall for either seamer Graham Onions on his Durham home ground in northeast England or Surrey fast bowler Chris Tremlett.

Australia made one change, bringing in Tasmania seamer Jackson Bird for left-arm quick Mitchell Starc.

At Old Trafford, the sometimes wayward Starc took three for 76 in England's first innings and made an unbeaten 66 with the bat.

This was the 26-year-old Bird's first Ashes match and third Test of his career after playing twice against Sri Lanka in Australia's 2012/13 home season.

And this was also the first Ashes match to be staged at Chester-le-Street.

England have won all four previous Tests at the ground, three of them by an innings, in defeating Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and the West Indies (

Teams:

England

Alastair Cook (capt), Joe Root, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow, Matt Prior (wkt), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson

Australia

Chris Rogers, David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Michael Clarke (capt), Steven Smith, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wkt), Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, Jackson Bird, Nathan Lyon

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Tony Hill (NZL)

TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)