PERTH, Australia, : England captain Joe Root won the toss and chose to bat on the opening day of the two-day Ashes tour match against a Western Australia XI in Perth on Saturday.

It is England's first of three warm-up games ahead of the opening Test against Australia, starting in Brisbane on November 23.

The tourists will be without injured pair Moeen Ali and Steven Finn for their opening two tour games.

All-rounder Ali is nursing a side strain and fast bowler Finn injured his left knee while batting in training on Thursday.

James Vince, Gary Ballance and Dawid Malan are competing for the Test spots at No 3 and No 5.

Fringe Test fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile will lead the WA XI bowling attack at the WACA Ground in a largely second-string team with Western Australia playing a Sheffield Shield game against NSW in Sydney.

Team England - Joe Root (capt), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

WA XI - Nathan Coulter-Nile (capt), Will Bosisto, Jake Carder, Tim David, Kyle Gardiner, Aaron Hardie, Clint Hinchliffe, Nick Hobson, Calum How, Lance Morris, Josh Philippe, Mark Turner.-AFP