Quicks hit nets as Aussies ponder XI

Jackson Bird is confident Australia’s quicks can shoulder another heavy workload as selectors consider another debutant

Fast bowler Jackson Bird says talk about a tired Australian pace attack struggling to back up in the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan is just that - all talk.

Most of the speculation leading up to the second Test has been about how the Australians will recover from sending down a marathon 145 overs in the fourth innings in Brisbane, a load shouldered almost entirely by a four-man attack of Bird, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.