England has named its 16-member squad to take part in the Ashes 2025-26 in Australia later this year. Ben Stokes’ side is looking to become the first England team to win an Ashes series in Australia since 2010-11.
The squad is largely among expected lines, with Stokes, Mark Wood and Shoaib Bashir all named in the squad after returning from injuries.
Harry Brook has been named as the squad’s vice-captain, taking over from Ollie Pope. Pope captained England in the final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy when Stokes missed out due to injury, but has not been retained as vice-captain. He is likely to compete with Jacob Bethell for the No. 3 spot in the batting order.
Will Jacks is the one surprise inclusion in the squad. Jacks is likely to fill the role that Liam Dawson played when Bashir was ruled out of the India series, though it remains to be seen whether England will opt to play the specialist spinner in Bashir at all.
Matthew Potts is the final cog of England’s pace battery, which has been boosted by the presence of Mark Wood to complement Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson, and Josh Tongue, all of whom impressed in spells against India.
England squad for Ashes 2025-26
Ben Stokes (captain), Harry Brook (vice-captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood
Published on Sep 23, 2025
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