Australia legend Brett Lee has urged England to field the fast bowling combination of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood in the opening Ashes match in Perth, despite a warning from Mitchell Starc, who said Australian conditions are more challenging for fast bowlers’ fitness than English conditions.
The Australian team will host the English team for a 5-match test series this summer. The Ashes series will be played from 21 November to 8 January 2026. Matches will be played in Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
One of these matches will be a day/night game with both teams playing with the pink ball at the Gabba. The Boxing Day Test will be played at the prestigious Melbourne Cricket Ground. England has been waiting for the Ashes trophy since 2010-11.
England take their most lethal pace attack to Australia for the Ashes
England has selected a team with its best fast bowlers for the Ashes. They are arguably the fastest bowling cartel for England in the history of the Ashes. The pace attack will not include former greats Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson.
The English attack will be led by the two fastest bowlers Joffra Archer and Mark Wood. The team’s other three fast bowlers Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue and Brayden Carse are also capable of bowling at speeds of more than 145 kmph.
Mark Wood remains the only bowler to play a Test on Australian soil in 2021-22, while the other bowlers, Atkinson, Tongue and Carse, have made their debuts in the last three years. Matthew Potts, on the other hand, has played just 10 Tests since 2022.
It’s rock hard, your body feels it so much – Michelle Stark
Mitchell Starc had earlier warned England’s fast bowlers that Australian conditions are much more challenging and difficult than the English conditions.
“It’s somewhat unspoken or underestimated how the strength of the wickets here is completely different to England. Physically, it’s much easier to bowl to in England,” he told AAP.
“You come to Australia and sometimes it feels like bowling on (concrete). It’s very hard, your body feels it a lot.”
If England has to win this series then it will have to play Mark Wood and Joffra Archer. It’s as simple as that – Brett Lee
After Starc’s warning, a huge debate has erupted in the English camp regarding rotating Wood and Archer throughout the series. Both Archer and Wood can trouble the Australian team with their fast pace.
However, legendary fast bowler Brett Lee has said that England will have to include both the fast bowlers from the first Test in Perth.
Lee said, “If England have to win this series, they have to play Mark Wood and Jofra Archer. It’s that simple.”
“You want them to try to destroy the Australian top order. Because there is a lot of speculation about who they will pick at the top. They are different styles of bowlers. It’s like poetry watching him (Mark Wood) run.”
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