England have named their 12 for the first Ashes Test against Australia on Wednesday, November 19, with less than 48 hours to go for the first ball at the Perth Stadium. Led by Ben Stokes, England included all of Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir in the twelve, while leaving the final decision on the playing XI to be taken on the morning of the game, set to kick off on Friday, November 21.
England have a call to make with respect to the combination as to whether they want to go with four frontline seamers, in addition to skipper Ben Stokes, or have the spin of Bashir in place of one of the quicks. The prospect of both Jofra Archer and Mark Wood running in from either end does look exciting and that's what probably enticed the captain and the coach to name both in the 12, which meant that Josh Tongue, the leading wicket-taker for the side in the India series, missed out.
Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson are likely to play on what will be a green surface dished out for the series opener.
Australia don't have happy memories of an opening Test in Perth, given that India won it the last time around and the players too felt odd that Gabba wasn't starting it out in the Ashes. With Australia set to be without both Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, England will have a golden opportunity to set the cat amongst the pigeons straightaway by winning the first one.
Australia are likely to hand debuts to opener Jake Weatherald and pacer Brendan Doggett, with Marnus Labuschagne likely to slot in at No 3 and Cameron Green at No 6. For the first time since 2010/11, there is an excitment in the air regarding the travelling English team being able to fare better Down Under and it will be a huge test for Ben Stokes and Co in his leadership.
England's 12 for first Ashes Test: Ben Stokes (c), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Mark Wood
