The English Cricket Team has announced their playing XI for the upcoming third Ashes 2025-26 Test against Australia more than a day before the start of the match.
The third Australia vs England Test match of the ongoing five-match Ashes Test series will be played at the iconic Adelaide Oval and is scheduled to commence on Wednesday, December 17.
At this point, the series stands at 2-0 in favour of the Aussies. The hosts have, for the most part, dominated the latest edition of this historic series. The first match, played in the Optus Stadium in Perth, was a low-scoring affair. But an attacking final inning saw the Kangaroos win the match by eight wickets on just the second day.
Then came the second match, which was played at The Gabba in Brisbane. It was a very different match, as the Australians crossed the 500-run mark in their first inning. The Three Lions gave only a 65-run target, which the Baggy Greens chased down with eight wickets to spare.
Now, in the third Test, England has the opportunity to save their prospects for this series. The English have not won an Ashes series since doing so at home 10 years ago in 2015. With the Urn currently with Australis, in order to take the iconic yet minuscule trophy home, England needs to win this series outright.
For that to happen, the England Cricket Team cannot afford even a draw, let alone a loss. They need to win all three of the remaining matches to win the Ashes for the first time in a decade. However, that would be difficult, seeing how they haven’t even won a Test Down Under since January 2011.
With them losing two matches in a row to kick the series off, the English have made a change in their playing XI for the third game. We will discuss this change when we come to it.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett have been the default England Test openers for a few years now. In the first Test, while Crawley scored two goals, Duckett failed to impress either. Then, in the second, Duckett scored a duck, while Crawley combined for over 100 runs in his two innings, even scoring 76 in the first.
Ollie Pope is next. Despite not being the most consistent player, he has played a role in the patchy success of the Three Lions in whites as of late. In the first Test, he got off to decent starts in both innings but failed to convert them into big runs. Then, in the second match, he scored a duck and a 26.
England has relied a lot on Joe Root over the past decade or so. In the first match, the former national team captain made a 0 and an eight. Then, in the second match, Root scored a ton in the first inning but got out for cheap when the team needed him while trailing in the third inning.
Harry Brook and captain Ben Stokes have failed to shine with the bat in this series so far. Stokes did score a half-century in the second Test. But it is with the ball where he has shone more. So far, Stokes is England’s second-highest wicket-taker in this series, having taken eight in two games, including a fifer in the first.
Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith has failed to impress in this series so far, getting out for cheap on multiple occasions, including a duck in the second match. Mark Wood played in the first Test and failed to impress. He was replaced by Will Jacks in the second match, who made okay runs at No. 8 in the second Test and took a wicket as well.
Now we come to the England pace trio. In the last match, the three English pacers were Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, and Gus Atkinson. Archer has been very underwhelming in this series, failing to take wickets when needed. On the other hand, Brydon Carse has been England’s highest wicket-taker so far, with nine scalps in two games.
While Archer has not been taking any wickets, it can be argued that Gus Atkinson has been England’s worst-performing pacer in this series, seeing that he has been conceding runs at an alarming rate. And thus, Atkinson was replaced by Josh Tongue in the England Cricket Team playing XI for the 3rd Ashes 2025 Test.
England Playing XI For 3rd Ashes Test Vs AUS: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue
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