Kurtis Patterson and Jhye Richardson will make their Test debuts on Thursday when Australia take on Sri Lanka at the Gabba.

New South Wales batsman Patterson was only added to the squad on Monday, having made unbeaten scores of 157 and 102 in a warm-up fixture in Hobart.

Western Australia seamer Richardson, who has impressed in white-ball cricket, was included in the party as a replacement for Josh Hazlewood (back) and has been given the nod to make his bow in the day-night contest.

Patterson and Richardson's inclusions mean Australia have fielded seven debutants in the eight Tests since the ball-tampering scandal that rocked the side in South Africa last year.

Batsman Joe Burns returns to the side for the first time since that tour, while seamer Peter Siddle is named as 12th man with Matt Renshaw and Will Pucovski missing out - the latter failing to make the XI despite impressing captain Tim Paine.

"Just the way he holds himself is really impressive," Paine said "He's got a little bit of an aura about him, but in a quiet, softly spoken kind of way.

"I think the way he goes about his batting is really simple as well, and it's been clear the last few days in the nets that he's going to be up to this level.

"And it's exciting to have someone of that sort of talent, and for him to be so mature and calm for his age I think it's really exciting for us as a team and as a country to have someone like that come on to the scene. It's been a while."

 

Australia XI to face Sri Lanka: Marcus Harris, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Kurtis Patterson, Tim Paine (captain), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Lyon.