Australian captain Wally Masur has confirmed Bernard Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis as his first-day singles players for this weekend’s Davis Cup semi-final against Great Britain.

Kokkinakis has been tasked with taking on British spearhead Andy Murray on Friday, while Australian No.1 Tomic will play world No.300 Dan Evans in Glasgow.

Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth will again play doubles for Australia after starring in July’s quarter-final comeback win over Kazakhstan in Darwin.

Hewitt and Groth are scheduled to play Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot after British captain Leon Smith opted against naming Andy Murray in the doubles.

The big surprise, though, is Smith’s daring gamble on Evans, the British No.8, ahead of world No.100 Kyle Edmund and the 141st-ranked James Ward.

It is clearly a psychological ploy from the Brits after Evans upset Tomic in the second round of the 2013 US Open in New York.

But two years on and Evans has plummeted down the rankings, while Tomic this week rose to a career-high No.23 in the world.

Evans will carry confidence into the match, though, having won 31 of his past 36 matches on the lower-level Challengers and Futures circuit.