England includes Bashir in their 12-man squad for Perth

Ashes 2025: England includes Bashir in their 12-man squad for Perth

England have named a 12-man squad for the first Ashes Test at Optus Stadium, Perth, but are still undecided on whether to go with an all-pace attack. The team includes both Mark Wood and Shoaib Bashir, keeping the spin option open.

Mark Wood is fit again after a hamstring scare in the warm-up game and is likely to play. He bowled in the nets and did light fielding drills, followed by a pitch inspection with the curator. The surface is expected to be the quickest of the series, tempting England to unleash their seamers.

Wood, who starred in the 2021-22 Ashes with 17 wickets at 26.64, is one of five players in the squad with Test experience in Australia, alongside Stokes, Root, Crawley, and Pope. His best came in Hobart with 6 for 37, in a match where England played no specialist spinner a move they also tried in Adelaide but later regretted.

England haven’t played a red-ball Test in Australia without a spinner since Boxing Day 1998, though they did skip one in their last Test against India at The Oval in July.

Shoaib Bashir, the 22-year-old officer, is still in the mix. Despite a tough outing against the Lions (2 for 151 in 24 overs), his high release and overspin are seen as assets on Aussie pitches. Stokes and McCullum have backed him since his inclusion for the India tour earlier this year.

Nathan Lyon has a stellar record at Optus 29 wickets at 20.86 in five Tests highlighting the value of spin, even on fast decks.

England squad for Perth Test
Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes (c), Shoaib Bashir, Gus Atkinson, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Mark Wood