Langer did confirm, however, that Hazlewood had got the nod as Australia's third paceman after the resting of Pattinson.

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"He’s got an outstanding record," Langer said of Hazlewood. "He’s built up over the past few months. He missed out on the World Cup because we felt he hadn’t played much cricket. We know he’s an outstanding bowler, we know that the style of play against England that at his best he should execute those plans really well. He has bowled well the last couple of weeks and we hope he does a good job this Test match.”

The fact there was not a coin toss amid the rain on Wednesday avoided a tricky situation for opposing captains Tim Paine and Joe Root.

"We had a joke there for a moment, if the captain tosses the coin and he wins the toss can he ask the opposition to make the choice?" Langer said.

"I think we decided you can’t do that. A couple of the umpires weren’t sure but they checked for us. You have to make a decision. It is going to be a tough call [on day two]. Today would have been tough, we knew there was a bit of rain around, some overhead conditions, the grass is wet and knowing the Dukes ball gets a bit soft when it gets a bit wet. Lucky Tim didn’t have to make the decision. We’ll see how it pulls up but it looks like a pretty good cricket wicket. Quite dry through underneath."

Langer was adamant there was still plenty of time for a result.

"At this stage we'll only lose two hours in the Test match so it won't affect too much," he said. "Two hours in the Test match isn't much ... in the bigger picture of it. There will be longer sessions we're going to have to deal with but our guys have said all along we have to keep adapting and be ready with whatever the conditions or the situation of the game throws up at us."