On Tuesday, December 2, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the playing eleven of the England national cricket team for the second match of the Ashes 2025-26.
The England national cricket team and the Australia national cricket team will face each other in the second Test match of the five-match Ashes Test series at the Gabba in Brisbane from Thursday, December 4.
Will Jacques replaces injured Mark Wood
Despite suffering a humiliating defeat in the first Test at the Perth Stadium, the England team management has decided to retain the core for the second match of the high-profile series.
They have made only one change to the playing eleven for the Gabba Test as spinning all-rounder Will Jack has been brought into the team in place of injured Mark Wood.
Will Jacques has already played a few test matches for his country and has scored 89 runs while taking 6 wickets.
Talking about the rest of the team, Zak Crawley will continue to open the innings along with Ben Duckett, while Ollie Pope and Joe Root will come in to bat at No. 3 and No. 4.
Vice-captain Harry Brook is ranked No. 5 in the playing XI and is followed in the batting order by captain Ben Stokes, wicketkeeper-batsman Jamie Smith and all-rounder Will Jacks.
Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer have been selected as the three frontline pacers for the match against the Australia national cricket team.
England’s playing XI for Gabba Test vs Australia:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer.
Also read: Sunil Gavaskar accuses ICC of bias regarding subcontinent pitches
Many more to follow…
