Posted by There is no Ashes tour moment quite so clean as the naming of the squad when the wheels are still on and everyone’s fully fit – everyone that is except for Ben Stokes (shoulder), Will Jacks (broken finger) and Mark Wood (most joints). Jacks is for us the most noteworthy inclusion, because despite masquerading as a backup spinner, he might actually be England’s frontline all-rounder – or half a one anyway.
Before we get to that, we must first talk captaincy.
“Yes, if it is to be said, so it be, so it is”
When Harry Brook was named as England’s white ball captain in April, we pointed out that they’d probably also just picked an Ashes captain.
Our reasoning ran thus:
- Ben Stokes gets injured every few months
- Vice captain Ollie Pope has always given off a certain placeholder vibe when standing in for him
- Brook was now a fully-fledged England captain
It was pretty obvious Brook would be the preferred stand-in Ashes captain option and England have now acknowledged this by naming him vice captain for the trip instead of Pope.
All logical enough, but given Stokes’ history, ‘stand-in captain’ is a term that hindsight may come to rewrite.
Matter of fact
Stokes is one of life’s great optimists. A firm belief that he can defy the odds has fuelled his greatest on-field performances and also his many, many, many periods of rehabilitation from injury. Mind over matter is a remarkable feat precisely because, of the two, matter is the proven performer.
Stokes might miss one Test or he might miss five. Either way, there is an England Ashes team without him. What does a Harry Brook England team look like?
Long-term, England have lumbered their most exciting batter with triple format leadership responsibilities. That is a whole separate conversation. For now, all we’re asking is all anyone in English cricket ever asks. [Adopts shrill annoying voice] “What does this mean for the Ashes?”
“This is not ‘Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.”
Batting-wise, a Harry Brook England team is much the same as a Ben Stokes England team. The top five is exactly the same and so is the wicketkeeper. The main thing you have to change is the all-rounder and then off the back of that, you suddenly realise you have to change the bowling as well.
England don’t have any other seam bowling all-rounders in their squad, so you can’t just neatly drop one in. What they have instead is Will Jacks, who is a spin bowling all-rounder. Except he’s not. He’s actually half a spin bowling all-rounder.
We’ve seen this with the one-day team where Jacks and Jacob Bethell combine to no great effect. We also saw it as recently as England’s last Test match where Bethell and Joe Root jointly ticked the spinning box without doing anything so outlandish as actually taking a wicket. Yes, Shoaib Bashir was injured for that match, but you rather get the sense that he might have been left out anyway.
Because this is how England do things. They pick four quick bowlers and then they muddle through with spin. We doubt there’s a specific plan beyond that it’ll involve at least two of Bethell, Jacks and Root and – depending what’s going on with the batters – possibly all three. This is not very uplifting for those of us who believe the team with no spinner should lose, but the flipside is it does make for an exciting fast bowling attack.
England’s 2025/26 Ashes squad features a couple of fast bowlers and a good few fastish ones. Gus Atkinson is inked-in, but with three further slots instead of just two, you can have a lot of fun thinking about who else you might include.
In an ideal world, Mark Wood and Jofra Archer would play every Test. With Atkinson, Archer and Wood already at your disposal, the wicket-taking benefits of Josh Tongue’s awkward and unreliable action start to seem more significant than all the byes and wides that he bowls.
That’s just one example though. There are a lot of possible permutations.
Less encouragingly, Stokes and Wood are the only two bowlers in the squad to have actually played a Test in Australia. In the absence of Stokes (and, let’s be honest, probably Wood as well) Harry Brook’s spin-free Ashes attack does look a little callow. And samey.
We can already see it… Flat pitch, day two. Please no! Anything but that!
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I already have a horrible feeling about this Ashes. Given that I’ve had this feeling about pretty much every away Ashes (and quite a few of the home ones), that may not mean anything – but given that pretty much every away Ashes (and quite a few of the home ones) have been unmitigated disasters, it could be that my horrible feeling is well correlated with actual outcomes.
In other news, Surrey are not getting a huge bang from their Rahul Chahar bucks so far, what with making 147 in the first innings and more or less handing the County Championship title to Notts anyway. Dan Lawrence has taken 2-7 as I type, though, so at least the fans have been treated to some moves that the Strictly lot would give their right arm (offbreak) for. That’ll keep them warm through the winter as they ponder a (potential) Ashes disaster and the failure of the latest County Championship re-organisation proposal to get through a vote.
This piece really captures the nervous energy surrounding Englands Ashes prospects. The speculation about the bowling attack is spot on – its thrilling to think about Wood, Archer, and Atkinson, but frustrating that Stokes might be missing. The spin options feel thin, and the worry about a one-dimensional attack on Australian soil is valid. As a fan, Im excited by the potential but also wary. The tone matches my own feelings: hopeful but anxious. Its always Ashes season, but this one feels particularly make-or-break. Great read, King Cricket!
Thanks fapellobot!
Saw through that one huh?
‘The tone matches my own feelings: hopeful but anxious.’
Might start using this phrase at work
The worst thing about away Ashes is the frequent mental disintegration of the team, to the point where they seem humiliated. Even if Strikes can’t be the actual on field captain for every Test, with him and McCullum there, I’m hopeful that England will at least get to the end with better spirits. Which in turn should help their actual performance and make it more enjoyable as a contest.
But then it’s the hope that gets you, isn’t it.
It’s such a timeless Ashes tour thing to lament, or even regret that tiny nugget of hope blinking forlornly from within the gigantic, sprawling sludge of pessimism.
Is this a good time to mention Adelaide 2006?
This feels like a very typical Bazball squad selection. They do get a lot of things right and there is plenty to get excited about as an England fan. But there always seem to be a few illogical, ill-thought-through decisions that feel like they’ve been made in a hurry because Baz has got bored and is in a rush to get to his tee time. That’s why end up with a likely stand-in captain for an away Ashes tour who (as far as I can tell) has never captained a first-class match, a probable number three who has barely played any first-class cricket, a reserve wicket-keeper who isn’t a wicket-keeper and only ever keeps wicket when England need him to in an emergency and the only reason I can think of for Will Jacks being in the squad is because he gives off better vibes than Sam Curran or Liam Dawson. Just doesn’t feel like England ever give themselves the best possible chance to win.
The Ridiculous Ashes are back!
As in, have returned.
They are at that.