Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 19, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleEngland names Mark Wood in their Ashes squad against Australia, bolstering their pace attack for the first test in Perth. Ollie Pope confirmed for number three batting position.
(Reuters) -England have included pace bowler Mark Wood for the first Ashes test against Australia as the country's cricket board announced a 12-player squad on Wednesday.
Wood, who was cleared of a hamstring injury last week, will be part of a potent pace attack featuring Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson and Ben Stokes.
Spinner Shoaib Bashir has also been added to the squad despite recent struggles, having recorded combined figures of 2/151 from 24 overs in a pre-Ashes warm-up match.
Ollie Pope has secured the number three batting spot ahead of Jacob Bethell, as England prepare for the opening test that begins in Perth on Friday.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Ben Stokes (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Mark Wood.
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru; Editing by Alex Richardson)
A pace bowler is a type of bowler in cricket who relies on speed to deliver the ball. They typically aim to bowl fast deliveries to challenge the batsman and take wickets.
A batting spot refers to the specific position in the batting order where a player is scheduled to bat during a cricket match. Each player has a designated spot based on their skills and strategy.
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