David Warner is poised to hold his spot for the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford after training with Australia's slip cordon alongside Mitch Marsh on Monday.
Warner's place has been in the spotlight in the lead-up to the start of the potential series decider on Wednesday following his failure in both innings at Headingley.
Complicating the matter was Marsh's century while filling in for injured allrounder Cameron Green in Leeds, with that pair now both available and fighting to play.
There had been speculation that either Marsh or Green could potentially open with Usman Khawaja at Old Trafford, leaving Warner out in the cold.
But any sign of that was was largely killed off at training on Monday, with Warner practising at first slip and Marsh at gully while Green ran with squad reserves.
It suggests Australia will make only the one change for the fourth Test, with Josh Hazlewood likely to come in for Scott Boland.
The development comes after Khawaja said Warner would play as his opening partner.
"Yep," he said, when asked if he expected to walk out alongside Warner.
"From my point of view Dave Warner has been one of the greatest openers of all time.
"It is him and Haydos (Matt Hayden) right up there for Australia. The top two ever.
"So I will always back Davey no matter what, and the other guys will too."
Warner had earlier joined Khawaja and Marcus Harris to face the new ball in the nets on Sunday.
Warner and Khawaja share a close bond, having opened the batting together in junior cricket in Sydney before being reunited last year at the top of Australia's order.
And Khawaja said it was easy to overlook the work the pair had done together in this year's Ashes, including three successive half-century partnerships in tough conditions.
"It’s massive, and a thankless job," Khawaja said.
"We go out there and got a really good start at Lord’s in heavy overhead conditions. I got out just last over before lunch but that sets up the game for us.
"Steve Smith comes out and batted in the sunshine and gets the beautiful 100.
"As an opener, sometimes you don't always record your good days on how many runs you made. Sometimes it's just about just grinding through those tough times.
"We've had three 50-run partnerships against Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.
"That is as tough as it gets in England. You have to pay some respect to that."
