(Australian Associated Press)

FACTS, FIGURES AND POTENTIAL RECORDS AHEAD OF FIRST ASHES TEST:

Overall: Played 336; Australia 138, England 105, drawn 93

At Cardiff: Played 1; Australia 0, England 0, drawn 1

In England: Played 161; Australia 47, England 48, drawn 66

Australia’s record in 2015: Played 3; won 2, lost 0, drawn 1

England’s record in 2015:Played 5; won 2, lost 2, drawn 1

Last series: Australia won 5-0 in 2013-14

Last series in England: England won 3-0 in 2013

Forecast for Wednesday: cloudy with a top of 18C, 40 per cent chance of showers

Possible teams:

Australia: David Warner, Chris Rogers, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (capt), Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon

England: Alastair Cook (capt), Adam Lyth, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson

Potential records:

*Mitchell Johnson is nine Test scalps away from reaching the 300-wicket mark. Brett Lee (310), Dennis Lillee (355), Glenn McGrath (565) and Shane Warne (708) are the only other Australians to have achieved the feat

*Stuart Broad needs 13 wickets to also make it to 300. Jimmy Anderson (403), Ian Botham (383), Bob Willis (325) and Fred Trueman (307) are the only Englishmen to have reached the mark.