Pat Cummins admits he would relish taking the prized wicket of England captain Joe Root in this week’s opening Ashes test in Brisbane even if he had not earned a late promotion into the Australian captaincy.

Cummins makes his debut as captain when the series begins at the Gabba on Wednesday following Tim Paine’s resignation due to a ‘sexting’ scandal less than three weeks before the opener.

The 28-year-old is the first fast bowler to lead Australia in 65 years and his promotion increases the prospect of the teams’ leaders going head-to-head when hostilities finally begin.

“I don’t know if the captaincy brings a different element for me, but the last few series we’ve played against him he’s always been our prized wicket,” said Cummins.

“Not necessarily the one we talk about the most, but he’s number one batter in the world at the minute, he’s their captain. It’s going to be a big battle ground for us.”

Cummins revealed Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc were likely to open the bowling for Australia at the Gabba while Travis Head had been selected in the line-up ahead of Usman Khawaja.

“Experience is great from Uzzie and we feel really lucky to have that in the squad, but Trav’s been playing a lot for us the last couple of years,” he said.

“He’s gone away and he’s churned out runs in England, here in Australia, and we feel like he’s really ready to go.”