CANTERBURY: Just before the 'last question' announcement was made to signal the end of Darren Lehmann's post-game chat with reporters in Kent, there was a cheeky question. "Have you got a first Test team for us, Darren?"

"Yeah," the deadpan head coach said. "Clarke...Smith..."

He stopped there and smiled. Ask a cheeky question, get a cheeky answer.

In reality, Lehmann and the other tour selector, Rod Marsh, have far more than their captain and vice-captain pencilled in for the first Ashes Test starting in Cardiff on Wednesday week.

Even with a practice match to come against Essex this week and several apparent close calls Lehmann admits he and Marsh have a fair idea of what the XI will be, the only caveat being that "it will still depend a bit on performance".

They have made six changes for that game to the side that beat Kent by 255 runs in England's south-east, with Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Fawad Ahmed all stepping aside and David Warner, Adam Voges, Peter Nevill, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon stepping in.

Michael Clarke, Ryan Harris, Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh and Chris Rogers will back up on Wednesday in Chelmsford and of the five, only the captain has not been at the centre of speculation about first Test selection.

Lehmann was not giving anything concrete away but there were clues in what he had to say before they set off on the M2 for Essex on Sunday evening.

For starters, Harris, who bowled 30 overs in his competitive return in Canterbury, does appear unlikely to unseat any of Johnson, Hazlewood and Starc in Cardiff.

"(He's) still short of a gallop but better today to be perfectly honest so he's going to play the next tour game provided he pulls up all right and make sure he's 100 per cent before we make him available for selection," Lehmann said.

Echoing Harris's own belief there will be limited weight given to past performance versus present form, Lehmann said: "(There are) no credits for players as far as we're concerned. The two Test matches in the West Indies the three quicks who played there got 40 wickets for us, so that's really pleasing.

"At the end of the day Ryan Harris has got to be fully fit and if he's doing that then he's a big part of our side, or squad going forward. He's got to prove to us he can bowl 20 overs in an innings or roughly about (that). Obviously he's been one of our greats in these conditions and at the end of the day we've got to pick the best attack and if that's with him in that's with him in, if it's not it's not."

As for the all-rounder's spot Watson still appears in front of Kent centurion Marsh in the reckoning so long as he can bowl competently even if, like a fight promoter, Lehmann enthuses that "it's going to be tight, isn't it?"

"I thought (Marsh) was exceptional in the innings as was Shane Watson to be perfectly honest," he said. "We need Watto bowling and he'll definitely bowl in the next tour game so that's going to be a key for us as well. So both pushed their claims really well."

On Watson, he added: "I thought he bowled really well in the West Indies, for a short amount of time, so we know that's important for us especially in England, he shapes the ball nicely so he's going to have to bowl well."

Those two issues covered, what about the subject of Warner's partner? The pairing of Warner and Rogers against Essex could be read as indication of a pending resumption of their fruitful Test partnership in Cardiff, one that was after all only suspended when Rogers was clocked on the head in Dominica last month. Shaun Marsh, who like his brother scored a hundred in Kent, will be spelled against Essex but Lehmann, asked who had their nose in front, warned calmly:

"Don't read too much into Shaun not playing the next one. He's been playing all the games and we need to give our other batters a hit.

"That didn't really answer your question."

Australians v Essex: D Warner, C Rogers, M Clarke, A Voges, S Watson, M Marsh, P Nevill, R Harris, M Starc, J Hazlewood, N Lyon.