'It's a really tough one': Steve Smith lifts lid on 'tricky' Beau Webster call as two Ashes debutants confirmed

Australia will unveil two Test debutants on Friday in the Ashes series opener, with both Jake Weatherald and Brendan Doggett named in an XI that had no room for Beau Webster - the all-rounder axed in a brutal call Steve Smith described as "very tricky"..

Weatherald will open the batting alongside Usman Khawaja, while seamer Doggett joins the bowling attack due to the absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood

It's a just reward for both players, who have performed at a high level in the Sheffield Shield competition for the past couple of summers.

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Weatherald has scored more than 5300 runs at first-class level at an average of 37.47 and brings the type of attacking style that complements Khawaja at the top of the order.

Smith heaped praise on the 31-year-old and revealed the impressive performance Weatherald put in during a training session before the first Test.

"I watched him bat in the nets pretty closely the last couple of days," the skipper said.

"They were pretty tricky nets - fast, bouncy and a lot of seam - but he's got a lot of courage, he just goes in there and I don't think he faces any of the sidearms or anything.

"He wants to face bowlers the entire time. The guys were charging in and bowling fast and he took it on, he was getting in really good positions.

"He goes about it a certain way, he's been selected for his performances over the last 18 months in particular, he has batted exceptionally well at the top of the order for Tasmania and hopefully he can bring that to the Test arena.

"I'm really excited for him, he's worked hard for a long period of time and I think he's gonna complement Uzzy pretty well up top."

Doggett has been part of the wider Test squad in recent times and earns a call-up after amassing 190 wickets at 26.46 across his 50 first-class appearances.

Marnus Labuschagne earns a recall at No.3, which will see Cameron Green shift to the middle-order and Webster miss out on the side.

Smith admitted the decision to leave out the Tasmanian all-rounder wasn't an easy one.

"Very tricky," he said of Webster's omission.

"He came into international cricket and lit it up immediately.

"I think it's a really tough one with him, but when Marnus is batting at his best at No.3, [that] makes us a very good cricket side and we couldn't really leave him out."

Australia's XI for first Ashes Test

Usman Khawaja, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschage, Steve Smith (c), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett