Ashes weather forecast: Thundery showers predicted throughout First Test opening day at The Gabba

The weather is set to have its say in the First Ashes Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, which is scheduled to start at midnight tonight in England (10am local time).

Thundery showers are predicted throughout the opening day, with more than a 50 per cent chance of rain, especially from late morning time onwards.

In fact, heavy rain could disrupt all of the first three days of the series, with Saturday then set to be clear.

Both teams' Ashes preparations were totally hampered by the ongoing inclement conditions, with the rain from La Nina limiting England to just seven sessions of warm-up cricket as part of an intra-squad contest.

“We are all going to be undercooked, that’s every England player and every Australia player,” England seamer Stuart Broad admitted last week.

“We normally play two or three first-class matches. We are going to go in with none.”