Oz media says Marsh, Bailey, Khawaja all contenders for 'vacant' middle order spots in Ashes

The Australian media has claimed that there is a close fight between Shaun Marsh, George Bailey and Usman Khawaja to claim the remaining middle-order spots in the Ashes.

According to the Courier Mail, Michael Clarke has been the only permanent fixture in the middle order over the past year, but the final couple of Ashes Tests in England saw the rest of the line-up begin to take shape around him.

Steve Smith and Shane Watson have now joined Clarke as, at the very least, medium-term fixtures in Australia's batting order, the report said.

However, the No .6 spot remains a troublesome one for the Aussies, as there was a different batsman in that spot for every Test of the Ashes series earlier this year, the report added.

George Bailey leads the list of contenders for the position, but there are a host of other batsmen with runs under the belt that could swoop in at the last moment including Shaun Marsh, according to the report.