No room for spin: Australia goes into the fourth Ashes with a pace-heavy attack against England

MELBOURNE: Australia won't attempt to replace injured Nathan Lyon with another spin bowler for the fourth Ashes test against England and will go into Friday's start of the match with a 12-man, pace-heavy squad.

After Lyon suffered a long-term hamstring injury in the Ashes-clinching win in Adelaide and later underwent surgery, offspinner Todd Murphy was called into the squad. But with the MCG pitch showing plenty of grass, Australia opted to leave Murphy out when it named its squad Thursday.

Captain Steve Smith will wait until the toss at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday before confirming a starting XI.

England lost each of the first three tests to allow Australia to retain the Ashes in just 11 days of on-field action.

It's unusual for an Australian team not to select a spinner at the MCG, a place where Shane Warne and Lyon have had success.

"A lot of the wickets we're playing on at present are certainly more seam-friendly than spin-friendly," Smith said on Thursday. "Last week (in Adelaide) was an anomaly; we saw some rough and we saw Nathan come in to play big-time.

"It's a tricky one. You've just got to play what surface you're presented with, and this one out here looks like it's going to offer a fair bit of assistance for the seam bowlers."

Joining Lyon and captain Pat Cummins on the sidelines are Josh Inglis, with fast bowlers Jhye Richardson, Brendan Doggett and Michael Neser included.

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