Australia are aiming to retain the Ashes for the fourth consecutive time, and win a series in England for the first time since 2001.
England named an unchanged line-up for the fifth Test of the series 24 hours out. Australia restored Todd Murphy to their team with Cameron Green making way.
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Ben Duckett | 1. | David Warner |
Zak Crawley | 2. | Usman Khawaja |
Moeen Ali | 3. | Marnus Labuschagne |
Joe Root | 4. | Steve Smith |
Harry Brook | 5. | Travis Head |
Ben Stokes (c) | 6. | Mitchell Marsh |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 7. | Alex Carey (wk) |
Chris Woakes | 8. | Mitchell Starc |
Mark Wood | 9. | Pat Cummins (c) |
Stuart Broad | 10. | Todd Murphy |
James Anderson | 11. | Josh Hazlewood |
Despite speculation James Anderson could be left out of the team off just a three-day break between the fourth and fifth Tests, England opted for an unchanged line-up, with Ollie Robinson overlooked.
Australia dropped spinner Todd Murphy for the fourth Test, the first time they had gone into a match without a specialist spinner in 11 years. Cameron Green was named in his place alongside fellow all-rounder Mitchell Marsh as Australia looked to extend their batting line-up, with Josh Hazlewood also returning at Scott Boland’s expense.
Australia made three changes for the third Test, with Marsh a shock in for Green due to the all-rounder’s minor hamstring injury. Boland was also recalled for Hazlewood, while Murphy replaced the injured Nathan Lyon.
Australia lost Lyon for the rest of the Ashes series after a bad calf injury sustained during the second Test.
Marsh was named in Green’s place at number six after the incumbent all-rounder reported hamstring tightness after a heavy bowling workload in the second Test at Lord’s.
Australia made one change for that Test, recalling quick Mitchell Starc at the expense of Boland.
Starc had previously been omitted for the first Test for Hazlewood from the team which beat India in the World Test Championship final. The left-armer’s axing came after a dominant performance at The Oval from Boland made him undroppable.
Australia’s initial squad announcement for the World Test Championship final/Ashes double caused controversy when Michael Neser and Cameron Bancroft were overlooked despite exceptional Sheffield Shield seasons.
Neser proceeded to dominate the second division of the County Championship for Glamorgan, taking 16 wickets at an average of 25 including a hat-trick, with he and Sean Abbott since added to Australia’s pre-Ashes training amp to once again throw his hat into the mix.
Queensland wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson was added to the squad as Alex Carey’s back-up, with Josh Inglis set to fly home mid-series for the birth of his first child.
Australia famously rotated their bevy of fast bowlers throughout the 2019 Ashes in England, with Starc managing just one Test as Pat Cummins, Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Peter Siddle all jostled for spots. Only Cummins played every Test, giving Neser and Boland plenty of hope in appearing during the series.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
England resisted the urge to bring in Ben Foakes for the fourth Ashes Test, and instead stuck with the out-of-form Jonny Bairstow behind the stumps.
James Anderson was also named after being left out of the Headingley win, returning for his hometown Test in place of Ollie Robinson.
England made three changes for the third Test at Headingley, with Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood recalled for the injured Ollie Pope, Josh Tongue and Anderson.
England were without Pope for the rest of the Ashes series after suffering a dislocated shoulder during the second Test at Lord’s.
The hosts recalled Moeen, Woakes and Wood in place of Pope, Anderson and Tongue in a radical batting order shake-up, extending the tail but allowing an extra seam-bowling option.
England also cut their squad down to 15 – now 14 with Pope sidelined with previous squad members Rehan Ahmed (called up as cover for Moeen for the second Test) and Matthew Potts dismissed.
England named a bolter for the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, bringing in young seamer Tongue as part of a four-man pace attack.
Tongue replaced spinner Moeen in the XI, who struggled with a badly blistered finger during the first Test. Moeen’s absence saw Joe Root become the sole spin-bowling option for the match.
The 25-year old made his Test debut in England’s pre-Ashes clash with Ireland, also at Lord’s, where he picked up a five-wicket haul in the second innings.
England also added 18-year old leg-spinner Rehan to their squad for the second Ashes Test as cover for Moeen, but elected not to pick him at Lord’s.
Moeen played his first Test in more than two years for England to begin the Ashes series, having been a shock call-up to the Test squad after frontline spinner Jack Leach was ruled out of the series with a back stress fracture.
England dropped a selection bombshell in announcing their squad for the Ashes, with wicketkeeper Foakes dumped.
Foakes, regarded as one of the world’s best glovemen, makes way due to the return of Bairstow from a broken leg suffered in September last year. A long-term keeper, Bairstow’s remarkable 2022 English summer as a specialist batter proved integral to the team’s ‘Bazball’ approach.
Star quick Jofra Archer was ruled out of the entire summer due to a stress fracture in his troublesome elbow.
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Moeen Ali, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Ben Duckett | 1. | David Warner |
Zak Crawley | 2. | Usman Khawaja |
Moeen Ali | 3. | Marnus Labuschagne |
Joe Root | 4. | Steve Smith |
Harry Brook | 5. | Travis Head |
Ben Stokes (c) | 6. | Mitchell Marsh |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 7. | Cameron Green |
Chris Woakes | 8. | Alex Carey (wk) |
Mark Wood | 9. | Mitchell Starc |
Stuart Broad | 10. | Pat Cummins (c) |
James Anderson | 11. | Josh Hazlewood |
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Ben Duckett | 1. | David Warner |
Zak Crawley | 2. | Usman Khawaja |
Harry Brook | 3. | Marnus Labuschagne |
Joe Root | 4. | Steve Smith |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 5. | Travis Head |
Ben Stokes (c) | 6. | Mitchell Marsh |
Moeen Ali | 7. | Alex Carey (wk) |
Chris Woakes | 8. | Mitchell Starc |
Mark Wood | 9. | Pat Cummins (c) |
Ollie Robinson | 10. | Todd Murphy |
Stuart Broad | 11. | Scott Boland |
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Ben Duckett | 1. | David Warner |
Zak Crawley | 2. | Usman Khawaja |
Ollie Pope | 3. | Marnus Labuschagne |
Joe Root | 4. | Steve Smith |
Harry Brook | 5. | Travis Head |
Ben Stokes (c) | 6. | Cameron Green |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 7. | Alex Carey (wk) |
Ollie Robinson | 8. | Mitchell Starc |
Josh Tongue | 9. | Pat Cummins (c) |
Stuart Broad | 10. | Nathan Lyon |
James Anderson | 11. | Josh Hazlewood |
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Ben Duckett | 1. | David Warner |
Zak Crawley | 2. | Usman Khawaja |
Ollie Pope | 3. | Marnus Labuschagne |
Joe Root | 4. | Steve Smith |
Harry Brook | 5. | Travis Head |
Ben Stokes (c) | 6. | Cameron Green |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 7. | Alex Carey (wk) |
Moeen Ali | 8. | Pat Cummins (c) |
Ollie Robinson | 9. | Nathan Lyon |
Stuart Broad | 10. | Josh Hazlewood |
James Anderson | 11. | Scott Boland |
Australia | England | |
---|---|---|
David Warner | 1. | Rory Burns |
Usman Khawaja | 2. | Zak Crawley |
Marnus Labuschagne | 3. | Dawid Malan |
Steve Smith (vc) | 4. | Joe Root (c) |
Travis Head | 5. | Ben Stokes |
Cameron Green | 6. | Ollie Pope |
Alex Carey (wk) | 7. | Sam Billings (wk) |
Pat Cummins (c) | 8. | Chris Woakes |
Mitchell Starc | 9. | Ollie Robinson |
Nathan Lyon | 10. | Mark Wood |
Scott Boland | 11. | Stuart Broad |
Australia | England | |
---|---|---|
David Warner | 1. | Haseeb Hameed |
Marcus Harris | 2. | Zak Crawley |
Marnus Labuschagne | 3. | Dawid Malan |
Steve Smith (vc) | 4. | Joe Root (c) |
Usman Khawaja | 5. | Ben Stokes |
Cameron Green | 6. | Jonny Bairstow |
Alex Carey (wk) | 7. | Jos Buttler (wk, vc) |
Pat Cummins (c) | 8. | Mark Wood |
Mitchell Starc | 9. | Jack Leach |
Scott Boland | 10. | Stuart Broad |
Nathan Lyon | 11. | James Anderson |
Australia | England | |
---|---|---|
David Warner | 1. | Zak Crawley |
Marcus Harris | 2. | Haseeb Hameed |
Marnus Labuschagne | 3. | Dawid Malan |
Steve Smith (vc) | 4. | Joe Root (c) |
Travis Head | 5. | Ben Stokes |
Cameron Green | 6. | Jonny Bairstow |
Alex Carey (wk) | 7. | Jos Buttler (wk, vc) |
Pat Cummins (c) | 8. | Ollie Robinson |
Mitchell Starc | 9. | Mark Wood |
Scott Boland* | 10. | Jack Leach |
Nathan Lyon | 11. | James Anderson |
Australia | England | |
---|---|---|
David Warner | 1. | Rory Burns |
Marcus Harris | 2. | Haseeb Hameed |
Marnus Labuschagne | 3. | Dawid Malan |
Steve Smith (c) | 4. | Joe Root (c) |
Travis Head (vc) | 5. | Ben Stokes |
Cameron Green | 6. | Ollie Pope |
Alex Carey (wk) | 7. | Jos Buttler (wk, vc) |
Mitchell Starc | 8. | Chris Woakes |
Michael Neser | 9. | Ollie Robinson |
Jhye Richardson | 10. | Stuart Broad |
Nathan Lyon | 11. | James Anderson |
Australia | England | |
---|---|---|
David Warner | 1. | Rory Burns |
Marcus Harris | 2. | Haseeb Hameed |
Marnus Labuschagne | 3. | Dawid Malan |
Steve Smith (vc) | 4. | Joe Root (c) |
Travis Head | 5. | Ben Stokes |
Cameron Green | 6. | Ollie Pope |
Alex Carey (wk) | 7. | Jos Buttler (wk, vc) |
Pat Cummins (c) | 8. | Chris Woakes |
Mitchell Starc | 9. | Ollie Robinson |
Nathan Lyon | 10. | Mark Wood |
Josh Hazlewood | 11. | Jack Leach |
Despite relatively poor preparation, Australia performed impressively in the First Test with Dave Warner and Marnus Labuschagne making good first innings scores before Travis Head stole the show with a wonderful 152 that took the game away from England.
They then claimed the second Test by 275 runs despite new captain Pat Cummins being ruled out on match eve after becoming a COVID-19 close contact, with Jhye Richardson’s final day five-wicket haul breaking through a last-ditch England effort.
Alex Carey made his debut and could hardly have wished for a better start to his Australian career. He took eight catches and in doing so set a new record for the most by a male player on their Test debut, before another strong showing in Adelaide.
Unfortunately both Warner and Josh Hazlewood picked up injuries during the victory. Warner was hit by a rising ball by Ben Stokes in the first innings and sat out much of the Test with bruised ribs while Josh Hazlewood’s side strain ruled him out of both the second and third Tests. Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser made their Test debuts in Adelaide.
Australia opted to retain their initial Ashes squad after the second Test for the remainder of the series, with only Scott Boland added as fast-bowling cover.
He was then shockingly named for his Test debut in the third Test, with Richardson ruled out, going on to pick up 6-7 in the second innings of Australia’s thumping win to be named player of the match.
Head’s unavailability for the fourth Test after testing positive to COVID-19 saw Usman Khawaja replace him in Sydney. Josh Inglis, Nic Maddinson and Mitchell Marsh have been drafted into the squad in case more players test positive.
Khawaja went on to score stellar twin centuries on his Test return to leave himself all but certain of retaining his spot for the fifth Test, while putting pressure on opener Marcus Harris after another middling match.
Australia squad: Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
Additional Australia A players: Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Henry Hunt, Matt Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Bryce Street.
England’s selection raised eyebrows in both their first two Test, having first omitted veterans Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson from the first Test, they then played without a specialist spinner in Adelaide.
Four changes were made for the third Test; spinner Jack Leach and quick Mark Wood were recalled for Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad, opener Zak Crawley came in for Rory Burns, and Jonny Bairstow was included at the expense of Ollie Pope.
Stuart Broad returned for the rested Ollie Robinson in Sydney, where several England players, most notably Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler, suffered injuries. Buttler has already headed home with a broken finger, with uncapped backup gloveman Sam Billings the favourite for a shock Test debut in Hobart.
England squad:Joe Root (captain), Ben Stokes, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Rory Burns | 1. | David Warner |
Joe Denly | 2. | Marcus Harris |
Joe Root (c) | 3. | Marnus Labuschagne |
Ben Stokes | 4. | Steve Smith |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 5. | Matthew Wade |
Jos Buttler | 6. | Mitchell Marsh |
Sam Curran | 7. | Tim Paine (c, wk) |
Chris Woakes | 8. | Pat Cummins |
Jofra Archer | 9. | Peter Siddle |
Jack Leach | 10. | Nathan Lyon |
Stuart Broad | 11. | Josh Hazlewood |
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Rory Burns | 1. | David Warner |
Joe Denly | 2. | Marcus Harris |
Joe Root (c) | 3. | Marnus Labuschagne |
Jason Roy | 4. | Steve Smith |
Ben Stokes | 5. | Travis Head |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 6. | Matthew Wade |
Jos Buttler | 7. | Tim Paine (c, wk) |
Craig Overton | 8. | Pat Cummins |
Jofra Archer | 9. | Mitchell Starc |
Stuart Broad | 10. | Nathan Lyon |
Jack Leach | 11. | Josh Hazlewood |
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Rory Burns | 1. | David Warner |
Jason Roy | 2. | Marcus Harris |
Joe Root (c) | 3. | Usman Khawaja |
Joe Denly | 4. | Marnus Labuschagne |
Ben Stokes | 5. | Travis Head |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 6. | Matthew Wade |
Jos Buttler | 7. | Tim Paine (c, wk) |
Chris Woakes | 8. | James Pattinson |
Jofra Archer | 9. | Pat Cummins |
Stuart Broad | 10. | Nathan Lyon |
Jack Leach | 11. | Josh Hazlewood |
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Rory Burns | 1. | David Warner |
Jason Roy | 2. | Cameron Bancroft |
Joe Root (c) | 3. | Usman Khawaja |
Joe Denly | 4. | Steve Smith |
Ben Stokes | 5. | Travis Head |
Jos Buttler | 6. | Matthew Wade |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 7. | Tim Paine (c, wk) |
Chris Woakes | 8. | Pat Cummins |
Jofra Archer | 9. | Peter Siddle |
Stuart Broad | 10. | Nathan Lyon |
Jack Leach | 11. | Josh Hazlewood |
England | Australia | |
---|---|---|
Rory Burns | 1. | David Warner |
Jason Roy | 2. | Cameron Bancroft |
Joe Root (c) | 3. | Usman Khawaja |
Joe Denly | 4. | Steve Smith |
Jos Buttler | 5. | Travis Head |
Ben Stokes | 6. | Matthew Wade |
Jonny Bairstow (wk) | 7. | Tim Paine (c, wk) |
Moeen Ali | 8. | Pat Cummins |
Chris Woakes | 9. | James Pattinson |
Stuart Broad | 10. | Peter Siddle |
James Anderson | 11. | Nathan Lyon |