Australia captain Tim Paine says "the wicket looks really good." In overcast conditions, England captain Joe Root says the toss was a "nice one to lose."
Australia holds the Ashes, the urn traditionally awarded to the winner of cricket's oldest regular international series. England goes into the first of five tests after winning the World Cup in July and hasn't lost an Ashes series on home soil since 2001.
Australia left out pacer Mitchell Starc, while opener Cameron Bancroft will play his first test since a nine-month suspension for ball-tampering.
Teams:
England: Jason Roy, Rory Burns, Joe Root (captain), Joe Denly, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson.
Australia: David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (captain), Pat Cummins, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle.