Meanwhile, Strokosch is the experienced element of a back row which sees Ross Rennie and David Denton make their first starts in the competition.
Gloucester team mate Scott Lawson is named amongst the replacements but there is no place for scrum half and former skipper Rory Lawson.
Scotland:
Rory Lamont (Glasgow Warriors); 14 Lee Jones (Edinburgh Rugby), 13 Nick De Luca (Edinburgh Rugby), 12 Sean Lamont (Scarlets),11 Max Evans (Castres); 10 Dan Parks (Cardiff Blues) 9 Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors);1 Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh Rugby), 2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) CAPTAIN, 3 Euan Murray (Newcastle Falcons); 4 Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors), 5 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester); 6 Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester), 7 Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Rugby) 8 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby)
Substitutes:
16 Scott Lawson (Gloucester) 17 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby) 18 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors) 19 John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors) 20 Mike Blair (Edinburgh Rugby) 21 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby) 22 Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors)
