Australia and England will both leave it as late as possible before naming their sides for the fifth and final Ashes Test in Sydney.

It remains unclear how the much-talked-about pitch at the SCG will play in the coming days, especially with a mixed weather forecast of rain on days one and two and hot temperatures of up to 33C towards the end of the match.

Australia’s stand-in skipper Steve Smith said “all options” were on the table for the hosts. All-rounder Beau Webster practised in the nets on Saturday, as did off-spinner Todd Murphy, with neither having previously featured in the series.

“(We) could play a couple of all-rounders, could play a spinner, could play no spinner,” Smith said. “No one’s locked in yet. There’s 13 or 14 guys on the table. Obviously (the pitch) hasn’t had a great deal of sunlight, (so we) need to check it out and see what it looks like. It looked pretty green yesterday.”

England captain Ben Stokes joked that no one had a clue how to read the surface, or indeed any cricket wicket, as England weigh up whether Shoaib Bashir should finally feature on this Ashes tour.

He and Will Jacks are England’s spin options, while Matthew Potts will come in for his Ashes debut assuming England go with a four-man seam attack.

”It’s quite a difficult one — I don’t think a groundsman’s ever been under as much pressure as the guy here this week,” Stokes said. “We try and act like we know what we’re doing when we look down at the pitch, rubbing it and knocking it… (but) no one really has a clue to be honest.

“I think we all play a good game by pretending we know what we’re doing looking at the wicket.”

England captain Ben Stokes, Joe Root and spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel inspect the wicket at the SCG (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Stokes reiterated that, although the Ashes have been lost, the match remains of huge importance to the team. While Smith says World Test Championship points are his side’s main motivation, Stokes is keen for positive memories to take away from Sydney when the team fly home after the match.

“One thing you don’t want to see — and I don’t think I will — is coasting through this game and seeing what happens,” Stokes said. “This is a huge game. We’re walking out there playing for England. It’s going to take all 11 of us to go out there and get on the right side of the result.

“And although we get to go home in eight or nine days’ time, any thought of that can wait until them. It’s about what we do over the next five days. It’s about putting in absolutely everything that we can into the game.”

Whatever happens in Sydney, it’s been a disappointing tour for England, who were outplayed by Australia in every aspect in the first two Tests in particular, and had lost the series after the third game in Adelaide. Stokes believes the difference in quality of their respective bowling attacks has been key.