Jackson Bird poised but no certainty to play fourth Ashes Test TASMANIAN paceman Jackson Bird is just one step away from making his Ashes debut in the fourth Test starting tomorrow in Durham after being named in the Australian 12 today. Bird had looked a certainty to start in this Test until the last two sessions of the Old Trafford Test were rained out. As devastating as that was for an Australian side desperate to keep the battle for the Ashes alive, the one upside was that Ryan Harris was spared a heavy workload on the final day. He could easily have been called on to send down 20 overs or more on the day. Instead, he bowled only seven, prompting a re-think by the selectors who clearly had intended to rest him for the Durham Test. Harris might yet be given a rest. He only once has played in three consecutive Tests and on that occasion he broke down in the third. There certainty would be some red faces on the selection panel if Harris suffered a similar fate here and suffered an injury that ruled him out of the Australian leg of the Ashes bi-series in November. It might not be an either-or choice between Bird or Harris, with the selectors having the option of playing Bird in place of left-arm speedster Mitchell Starc who has taken eight wickets at 27 in this series without ever having made his presence felt at critical moments. With Shane Watson filling the fourth seamer's role and overdue for a change of luck and a big haul of wickets, there is little prospect of the selectors standing down off-spinner Nathan Lyon and going with a four-pronged pace attack. The major issue in the batting line-up is whether David Warner makes the expected move back to opener to give Australia three left-handers at the top of the order, with Watson dropping back to four or five. The Australian squad (12th man to be announced before the toss): Michael Clarke (c), Brad Haddin (vc), Jackson Bird, Ryan Harris, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson