England have named their 16-man squad to take on Australia in the Ashes this summer.
Ben Stokes' side face the Aussies in the First Test on June 16 at Edgbaston as England aim to win the Urn for the first time since 2015. Australia won the most recent Ashes series Down Under in 2021/22, having retained the crown in England before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Australia battered England 4-0 last winter, but this is a new-look side captained by Stokes now. They earned Test victories over Pakistan and New Zealand in 2022, before holding the Black Caps to a draw earlier this year. Stokes' side will be as confident as ever to claim a rare recent win over Australia.
With 13 days to go until the First Test, Stokes has named his contingent for the series. He has named eight first-class bowlers in the squad, with James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, Josh Tongue, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Jack Leach.
Ben Stokes and Dan Lawrence are all-rounders, while Joe Root, Zak Crawley, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett are the top-order batsmen, with Jonny Bairstow keeping wicket. Stokes' squad was confirmed at Lunch of England's test match against Ireland at Lords.
A double-century from Pope has put England in the driving seat after they dismissed Ireland for just 172 in their first innings. England declared on an impressive 524/4, with Duckett's 182, Root's 56 and Crawley's 56 also helping to record that score. Ireland made a decent start to their second innings but require a miracle to avoid defeat.
However, there was a major injury concern for England in the morning session of Day 3. After catching a ball, skipper Stokes appeared to be in some discomfort, holding his knee in the process. As he walked back towards the stumps, the 31-year-old hobbled and didn't look comfortable at all.
Speaking earlier this week, Stokes didn't seem too concerned about his knee. He said: "The knee is obviously in a much better place than it was in Wellington," said Stokes. "I've been in India for the IPL over the last nine to 10 weeks and what I have done is get myself into a position where I can have no regrets or say I have not given myself the best opportunity to play a full role with the ball this summer.
"I have worked incredibly hard and got myself into a place where I feel like I am back in the 2019, 2020 space in terms of my own body and fitness. I have definitely given myself the best chance, but the mind and body are different things.
"It is about managing it and the great thing about sport and being out in the arena is it gives you adrenaline. So it gives you stuff you’re able to do in a game that you probably would not be able to do in training. The thing about me is that I don’t need much bowling for the rest of my body to tick over. I can have quite a lot of time off and then build up quite quickly."
England squad in full: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
