Australia captain Pat Cummins is yet to be named in the squad but is in contention to qualify for Thursday’s second Ashes Test.
Cummins missed the team’s win in Perth due to a long-term back injury and then sat out this week’s day-night match in Brisbane.
However, he continues to train with his teammates at the Gabba and Australia are careful not to formally exclude him from the team sheet for the 11th hour.
Steve Smith attended the pre-match captain’s press conference, but there was no guarantee he would lead the team.
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England’s Ollie Pope has spoken about the challenges of day and night Tests as his team prepare to take on Australia in the second Test of the Ashes at The Gabba.
“There’s a lot on the table. We’ll see how the wickets go later and decide on the squad from there,” he said.
“(Cummins) looks pretty good to me. He’s bowling close to the net. Obviously the intensity of the game is different, but he’s tracking well and knows his body well. We’ll see.”
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Matthew Hayden said on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast after the first Test that he is “not convinced” whether Joe Root will score a hundred in the 2025-26 Australian Ashes.
Brendan Doggett, who took five wickets on his debut last time out, is most likely to make way once the captain returns, although there is some speculation about spinner Nathan Ryan’s role.
Yorkshire-born Josh Inglis is expected to beat Beau Webster on a midfield recall, with Usman Khawaja out injured and Travis Head set to replace him against Perth as they open again after a century of back-to-back wins.
Stokes: We are ready to play against any eleven
England will not know their opponents’ eleven until the toss is reached on Thursday, but Australia will leave Cummins out of the team as late as possible to keep him in contention.
Asked if his opponent’s decision was a psychological game, Stokes summed it up by saying Australia still don’t really know which team they will be on.
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England captain Ben Stokes has explained his decision to recall Will Jacks ahead of the second Ashes Test at the Gabba.
“My view is that they don’t know which XI they’re going to pick until they give the toss,” Stokes said.
“We have to wait and see what kind of XI they are aiming for.
“Pat (Cummins) is really great and has been for a really long time.
“He has done great things not only as a player but also since he was given the responsibility of captaining the Australian national team.
“Whether they have 11 guys, whether Pat’s there or not, we’re still going to come out and win this week.”
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England captain Ben Stokes has responded to a bizarre question from a reporter about England players riding electric scooters without helmets in Brisbane.
What will be key for England in the day-night Test?
England have lost five of their seven day-night Tests, including all three in Australia, but the home side have won 13 of 14 in this format, with their only defeat coming against West Indies in Brisbane in January 2024.
Stokes said: “We have a great resource with information, data and everything like that. I’ve had our analysts send us all the information about recent day-night cricket at the Gabba and in Australia.”
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Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton analyze England’s squad for the second Ashes Test against Australia in Brisbane, with off-spinning all-rounder Will Jacks replacing fast bowler Mark Wood in the day-night match.
“We try to get as much information as possible as there are times of the day, dusk and when the floodlights are on.
“What we talked about is being conscious of keeping the ball as dry as possible, because as soon as the pink kingfisher gets soft, it becomes much harder to feel like you can break through with whatever is on the wicket.
“We’ve been around the world where we can get softer balls, but it seems like it’s a lot harder to break through because of that softer ball. This week we had to take all those little little things into account.”
“I think our liaison officer was tasked with going out and buying about 60 sweatbands for all of us.”
Ashes Series in Australia 2025-26
always UK and Ireland
1st test (Perth – 21st to 25th November): Australia defeats England by 8 wickets 2nd Test (day/night): Thursday 4th December to Monday 8th December (4am) – The Gabba, Brisbane 3rd Test : Wednesday 17 December – Sunday 21 December (11:30pm) – Adelaide Oval Fourth Test: Thursday 25 December – Monday 29 December (11:30pm) – Melbourne Cricket Ground 5th Test: Sunday 4 January to Thursday 8 January (11:30pm) – Sydney Cricket Ground
