"Cannon fodder": England's Ashes squad analysed

England has named its 16-man Test squad for the 2025/26 Ashes series in Australia.

Ben Stokes will again captain Brendon McCullum’s team while Harry Brook has been promoted to vice-captain ahead of Ollie Pope.

Skipper Stokes is continuing to recover from a shoulder injury but should play in the 1st Test in Perth on November 21.

The English will look to fight fire with fire in bringing five quicks with them - Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and the super-quick Mark Wood who has recovered from a knee injury.

It’s a somewhat unprecedented move for the English who will bring their quickest bowling attack to Australia for some time. Given it’ll likely be a gruelling tour in the Aussie heat, there will be the opportunity to rotate.

Will Jacks has been included as a hard-hitting batting option who will act as back-up spinner behind top-line tweaker Shoaib Bashir. He last played Test cricket in 2022.

The batting lineup is strong, led by Joe Root, Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Brook and Pope, who captained the team in Stokes’ absence against India in July.

Assessing the team, SENQ's Ian Healy said England will be "classy enough, but are lacking in the spinner which is where they might be vulnerable".

"It’s a good squad though a little unproven in the bowling ranks," Healy said. "The opening pair pride themselves on coming at you, Australia will have a plan for that.

"It will be hard for them to score as freely as they would like.

"Root is No 1 run scorer in England history but has no 100 in Australia – even I hope he makes one this tour.

"A very high performing batting line up with Ben Stokes after, he has played some of the most historic innings against Australia.

"Archer is back and he is going well. He is going to be a real handful for Australia.

"We cope with the bounce ok, England will have to get their lengths right or they’re cannon fodder.

"They’re classy enough but lacking in the spinner, that’s where they may be vulnerable."

England's Ashes squad

Ben Stokes (captain)
Jofra Archer
Gus Atkinson
Shoaib Bashir
Jacob Bethell
Harry Brook (vice-captain)
Brydon Carse
Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Will Jacks
Ollie Pope
Matthew Potts
Joe Root
Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper)
Josh Tongue
Mark Wood

Ashes dates

• 1st Test - November 21-25 - Optus Stadium, Perth
• 2nd Test - December 4-8 - The Gabba, Brisbane
• 3rd Test - December 17-21 - Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
• 4th Test - December 26-30 - MCG, Melbourne
• 5th Test - January 4-8 - SCG, Sydney