England name squad to face Australia in World Cup opener

Wayne Bennett has opted for Luke Gale and Gareth Widdop as his half-back pairing for England's World Cup opener against Australia on Friday

Super League Man of Steel Gale will partner NRL-based Widdop for the third time as they go up against new Kangaroos duo Cooper Cronk and Michael Morgan, who has been given the onerous task of filling the boots of the injured Johnathan Thurston.

Bennett, whose Brisbane team were undone by a Morgan-inspired North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL play-off semi-finals, is taking little comfort from the absence of Thurston, who has undergone shoulder surgery, but is delighted with the domestic form of his two half-backs.

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"I don't think you get too many advantages over Australia and I'm not counting on that being one either," Bennett said after England's training session at Melbourne's Albert Park.

Widdop, captain of St George Illawarra, was second only to Australia captain Cameron Smith in the voting for the prestigious Dally M award in 2017 while Gale won the Super League equivalent.

Bennett added: "Gareth is really confident and that confidence rubs off on other people. Luke won Man of Steel over there and I can see how much more confident he is this year. They get the team round great so I'm more than happy with what I've got, they've just got to play well on the night."

As expected, Jonny Lomax takes over at full-back from Stefan Ratchford after missing last Friday's warm-up match against a Combined Affiliated States with a slight hamstring strain and his St Helens team-mate Alex Walmsley is set to win his first cap from the bench despite missing Tuesday's training session due to illness.

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"Lomax looks as though he'll play," Bennett said. "He's feeling no pain and he's moving really well. Alex Walmsley is not here, he's got a bit of a virus, but it's not too serious. I've got the team worked out in my mind but we're putting 21 players out today so you'll have to work it out from there."

Wigan second rower John Bateman is expected to keep the centre spot he occupied in the warm-up game with Ben Currie likely to have to wait to win his first cap after failing to make the first 17 along with Kevin Brown, Mark Percival and Scott Taylor.

Ratchford, George Williams and Mike McMeeken were earlier left out of the full 24-man squad.

Jonny Lomax; Jermaine McGillvary, Kallum Watkins, John Bateman, Ryan Hall; Gareth Widdop, Luke Gale; Chris Hill, Josh Hodgson, James Graham; Sam Burgess, Elliott Whitehead, Sean O'Loughlin (c). Replacements: Alex Walmsley, Chris Heighington, Thomas Burgess, James Roby.