Ashes: England-born Josh Inglis won't have shared allegiances if picked by Australia

England-born wicketkeeper Josh Inglis says he won't have shared allegiances if picked by Australia for the upcoming Ashes.

Inglis, 26, is a leading candidate for Tim Paine, who stepped down as captain before taking a break from cricket last week. Inglis, from Western Australia, was born in Leeds and lived in the UK until the age of 14 when his family moved to Australia.

"As a kid who grew up in England I naturally supported England," he said. "But that changed now when I moved to Australia.

"Once you've started building yourself in professional cricket, it's pretty hard to try and play for a team and not support them. That changed pretty quickly." The first Ashes test starts on December 8th at the Gabba in Brisbane. Paine, 36, resigned as captain earlier this month over a historical investigation into sexually explicit texts he sent to a colleague in November 2017.

He initially remained the only wicketkeeper in the Australian squad for the Ashes and could be selected until he announced that he was taking an indefinite break from the sport. Fast bowler Pat Cummins succeeded Paine as test captain on Friday, with Batter and former captain Steve Smith promoted to vice-captain. However, Australia haven't announced a new goalkeeper yet.

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Australia A-Keeper Inglis and Alex Carey are the two main candidates for the gloves. Right-handed batsman Inglis was an underutilized member of the Australian T20 men's World Cup winning squad and has yet to make his international debut.He's got 2,246 runs in 45 top notch matches averaging 34.03, with three centuries all made at Sheffield Shield last year.

Carey, 30, has yet to make his test debut but has played 45 one-day caps and 38 T20s for Australia. However, Australian greats Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne have all called on to pick Inglis. "You don't want to read too much into it because you don't make the decision," said Inglis.

"But if you say some really nice things about me, it's nice to hear."