Australian quick Jackson Bird has urged selectors to stick with a winning formula and name an unchanged line-up for the Boxing Day Test.
It is believed the heavy workload carried by Bird and fellow seamers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood during Pakistan's second innings at the Gabba has selectors contemplating the inclusion of an allrounder in Melbourne.
West Australian Hilton Cartwright is in the mix to fill that role after being picked in an extended squad for the second Test.
Bird, Starc and Hazlewood bowled 113 overs between them in hot conditions as Pakistan mounted a stirring second-innings fight back that saw them fall just 40 runs short of the mammoth target of 490.
However, Bird doesn't believe the workload on Australia's quicks should be a major factor in selection.
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"It's our job to bowl a lot of overs and do the hard work ... it's what we're paid to do as professional cricketers and especially as fast bowlers," Bird told reporters after a net session at the MCG on Saturday.
"That's why we do all the hard work with fitness and weights. I think things can sometimes get blown out of proportion a little bit. It's part and parcel of being a fast bowler.
"It probably would take a bit of the workload off us if we did have Hilton as a fifth bowling option but I think us three quicks and Nathan Lyon have been doing a good job.
"We've won the last two Test matches and I'm not sure why they'd change that.
"But that's completely up to the selectors."
Bird bowled 45 overs in the first Test, which he said was about what he had been averaging at Sheffield Shield level over the past 12 months.
No.6 batsman Nic Maddinson is in the firing line after managing scores of 0, 1 and 4 in his first two Tests.
After playing in five pink-ball matches this summer, Bird is looking forward to familiarising himself with the traditional red Kookaburra.
"It was a bit different throwing and trying to catch the red ball today ... it was a little bit foreign really," he said.
"It will be nice to get the red ball in hand because it will probably stay in a little bit better shape than the pink ball.
"You get a bit more moisture in them so you can shine them up too.
"Hopefully we can exploit some swinging and seaming conditions."
