England have confirmed their playing 11 for the third Test of the 2025-26 Ashes, as they aim to do the unprecedented: win the five-Test rubber after going 2-0 down in the first two matches. The only change
from the team that badly lost at the Gabba is pacer Josh Tongue coming in as a like-for-like replacement for Gus Atkinson, who struggled for impact in the pink-ball Test.
Tongue is a different kind of pacer to Aktinson. While the latter is long-considered a James Anderson understudy, someone who can swing the ball and hit the channel, the former is 6’3, quick, and knows how to rush the batters with pace. Tongue has been guilty of being inconsistent too often in the past, but he can nail yorkers, clean up tailenders, and will add a new dimension to the pace attack.
The batting order has remained the same, despite its back-to-back failures in Perth and Brisbane.
“We’ve been in positions where we have made some mistakes, and that can happen at times,” head coach Brendon McCullum had said, hinting at the same in his pre-match press conference. “But for us to go on and win this series, it’s not about throwing out what has been successful for us over the last few years. It’s about having more conviction. Knee-jerk reactions and chopping and changing settled batting line-ups are not really our way.”
However, he had kept the door open for bowling changes.
“We need to have a look at the conditions,” McCullum said. “We have a squad of 16 here, which in a five-Test series, we know we will have to call upon the majority, if not all of those. We will work out what we think is the best option to be successful in these conditions.”
So far, Tongue has played six Tests, taking 31 wickets at an average of 30. His inclusion would increase England’s tail — because Atkinson can bat — and should prompt the specialist batters to take a bit more responsibility.
England’s 11: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, and Josh Tongue.
