England have announced their playing XI for the third Ashes Test, set to start from December 17 at Adelaide.
Josh Tongue replaces Gus Atkinson
England have made one change to their XI from the one that took field in the day-night Test in Brisbane. Fast bowler Gus Atkinson has been replaced by right-arm quick Josh Tongue.
Atkinson had a tough time in the first two matches of the series, picking up only three wickets at an average of 78.67 while also conceding 4.37 runs per over. While he did put up a fight with the bat in the second innings at Perth, where he counterattacked his way to 37 off 32 balls, his batting output hasn't been consistent either, as reflected by his aggregate of 50 runs from four innings at 11.25.
Tongue, who has picked up 31 wickets in his six Test matches so far, is set to replace Atkinson and feature in his first international game in Australia. Tongue's returns in the two Lions matches he has played so far on this tour haven't been promising: he had only two wickets from three innings at an average of 76.50. England would be hoping for him to improve significantly on that at Adelaide.
Still no room for Shoaib Bashir
Despite Adelaide being the most spin-friendly Test venue in Australia this decade, England's specialist spinner Bashir continues to find himself out of contention for a spot in the XI.
England had drafted in Will Jacks as their spin option in Brisbane, where he bowled 11.3 overs for figures of 1-34 in the first innings. They have stuck with him for Adelaide, especially after his stoic efforts with the bat, which saw him make 60 runs in the match.
The batting order bears a familiar look for England, something head coach Brendon McCullum had hinted at recently: "From our point of view, we've had a top seven now for a period of time and we've been reasonably successful with it. These conditions should suit the style of batters that we've got as well. We know we haven't got enough runs so far in this series. We've been in positions where we could have and made some mistakes, and that can happen at times.
"But for us to go on and win this series, it's not about throwing out what has been successful for us over the last few years. It's about having more conviction. It's about making sure we have our plans and our disciplines around it just screwed down a touch more; making sure when we walk out there, we have utter belief in what we are capable of achieving.
"Knee-jerk reactions, and chopping and changing settled batting line-ups, is not really our way."
England XI for Adelaide Test
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue.
