Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has revealed Australia will be "close to full strength" for their historic tour to Pakistan.
Australia haven't travelled to the sub-continent nation for 24 years, their last tour coming in 1998. They have since played Pakistan multiple times in the United Arab Emirates, and once in England.
The return to Pakistan comes as security threats reportedly ease in the nation, other teams having toured in the past few years.
The tour, which will feature three Tests, three ODIs and a single T20I, has reportedly received the tick of approval from Cricket Australia with security and biosecurity arrangements in place.
Cummins told the press on Thursday that a few players were still keen for more information, and that the team would "back anyone" who didn't make the trip.
"I think we'll get close to a full-strength squad," Cummins said. "There is still a little bit of work to do. We have received a lot of information and it has been great. All the pre-tour security and biosecurity work has been done and it's been fantastic.
"There are a couple of players still keen to get a bit more information but everyone is really pumped and feeling relatively comfortable. If anyone doesn't make the tour it is absolutely okay, we will back them for sure."
Incredibly, this will be Australia's first overseas Test since 2019 and marks the start of a difficult winter where ten Tests in the sub-continent are scheduled - three against Pakistan, two against Sri Lanka, one against Afghanistan in India, and then four against India.
Managing workloads and coming to grips with the conditions will be among the big problems for Cricket Australia as they begin the ten-Test sequence with three against Pakistan.
Australia have been forced to bowl more than 140 overs seven times in the first innings across their past 20 Tests in the sub-continent, and six out of 14 if only matches away from home against India and Pakistan are considered.
It has previously been reported Jhye Richardson won't travel to Pakistan for that reason, with workload management a primary concern.
Australia's record on the sub-continent is horrid, having won just 15 of their last 71 Tests on the subcontinent, with that number reduced to 9 out of 55 against India and Pakistan, losing 27.
