"It gives us a slightly different option," Root said.

"An extra little bit of bounce, a taller bowler.

"He's a competitor. We saw him come into Ashes cricket on debut and straight away he looked very much at home. He got himself in a battle and I expect him to do just that this week."

Australia skipper Tim Paine described Overton as a "very good cricketer".

"He's a big tall boy, extracts a bit of extra bounce," Paine said.

"He'll certainly be a handful when he gets it right. Fortunately a few of us have seen him last time around.

"So we know what to expect, he'll be a slightly different proposition with the Dukes ball."

England's pace depth has been depleted this series because injured trio Jimmy Anderson, Mark Wood and Olly Stone are unavailable.

England have also tinkered with their top order, and while Paine is happy, he remains wary about the threat posed by out-of-form slugger Jason Roy.

Roy, having scored 57 runs from six innings as an opener this series, has been demoted to No.4.

Joe Denly, fresh from a half-century that shored up his spot in the XI, will now open alongside Rory Burns.

Australia have made no secret of their desire to rattle England's inexperienced top order, with Josh Hazlewood having fired the first shot prior to the start of the series by pointing out that making the leap from ODI star to Test opener would be tricky for Roy.

"I'd probably say the bowlers feel like that [England changing their order] is not a bad thing," Paine said.

"They feel like they've done a pretty good job against him.

"They are going to try and put him [Roy] in a position they think suits his play better.

"As I said before the Edgbaston Test, we know how skillful a player he is and I think it's probably a matter of time before he finds the right tempo to play Test cricket. When he does he's going to be a force to be reckoned with."

England XI: Rory Burns, Joe Denly, Joe Root (c), Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Jofra Archer, Craig Overton, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach.

AAP