Wisden writers pick their England XIs for the first 2025/26 Ashes Test

England will head down under in two and a half years time having not won a Test in Australia for over 12 years. While the ages of the players in their current squad don’t prevent many of them from lining up at the Gabba, it could be the final Ashes tour for several of their key establishment.

The bowling attack in particular could be significantly different. With Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali’s retirement, James Anderson surely having called it a day by then and Chris Woakes uncertain for overseas tours, most of the attack could be heading out to Australia for the first time.

Ben Gardner, Wisden.com managing editor

Ben Duckett
Zak Crawley
Harry Brook
Joe Root
Ben Stokes (c)
Ollie Robinson (wk)
Sam Curran
Rehan Ahmed
Gus Atkinson
Josh Tongue
Jofra Archer

I’m backing most of the current top six to make it to the Gabba. Even if Zak Crawley doesn’t score a run between now and then, he’s told us we can’t question him, and at this point, who’s to say he’s wrong? Still, things move fast, and it would mark a period of almost unmatched stability if England’s first-choice batting line-up remained unchanged between now and then, so I’m saying Ollie Pope will miss out. Maybe he’ll get Ashwinned in India, and then nicked off by Kemar Roach six times in a row, or something.

Beyond that, it gets trickier. Of all of England’s current batters, Jonny Bairstow has the most pedigree in Australia. But by this point he will be 36, and he’s explained how the ankle is hampering him. Jamie Smith and James Rew are both prospects, and Ben Foakes will still be in the mix, but Ollie Robinson has shown himself to be Baz-ready for Durham this season.

Ben Stokes might sort his knee out, but even then, England will want an all-rounder given the battery of quicks I’ve gone with, so Sam Curran comes back into the fold.

The bowlers are shots in the dark, given the ages of Anderson, Mark Wood and Woakes. I’ve gone for Rehan Ahmed over Jack Leach because England will get to Australia and fancy a leggie. And while the other Ollie Robinson is sure to play some part of the series, how good would it be to rock up to the Gabba with a frontline seam attack all capable of hitting 90mph? And the last of them, Jofra Archer – just let me have this one.

Jo Harman, Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine editor

Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Harry Brook
Joe Root
Ben Stokes (c)
James Rew (wk)
Sam Curran
Rehan Ahmed
Ollie Robinson
Jofra Archer
Josh Tongue

Crawley’s average hovers around 35 after a solid couple of years and Duckett’s financial future is secure after the breakout success of the Duckett Hat™. The opening partnership is now England’s longest standing since Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss. Brook embarks upon his first Ashes trip as captain-in-waiting and the world’s leading batter. Root is set to turn 35 during the Boxing Day Test and has hauled in Cook’s run-scoring record, with now only Sachin ahead of him in the all-time charts.

Stokes is playing as a specialist batter and insists he’s fit despite only recently recovering from his second knee op. He has revealed this will be his last series as skipper. The exclusion of Surrey skipper Ben Foakes continues to enrage the purists, but Rew has made an assured start to his Test career since Bairstow’s acrimonious exit.

With Stokes unable to bowl, Curran has been restored to the side as a freewheeling all-rounder and, three years after his record-breaking Test debut, 21-year-old Ahmed gets the nod over veteran left-arm spinner and Question of Sport team captain Leach.

Robinson is already among the most hated men in Australia, and England’s attack leader hasn’t endeared himself to the locals by launching a provocative ‘Robbo’s gonna get ya’ t-shirt range ahead of the series. Matthew Hayden makes a plea for his deportation.

Archer briefly retired from Test cricket to focus on his white-ball career but answered Stokes’ SOS call for last summer’s series against India and was quickly back in the groove. Josh Tongue is now an automatic pick, and England’s fast-bowling coach Anderson says Tongue will be key to the tourists’ hopes.

Yas Rana, Wisden.com head of content

Ben Duckett
Zak Crawley
Joe Root
Harry Brook
Ben Stokes (c)
Jonny Bairstow (wk)
Rehan Ahmed
Sam Curran
Ollie Robinson
Gus Atkinson
Josh Tongue

England have a long list of difficult selection questions for the upcoming tour to India, and how they answer them will go some way in revealing just how essential certain individuals will be in their long-term planning. For example, it is not immediately obvious how their vice-captain slots back into a top six if Stokes isn’t his old self with the ball. Pope doesn’t make my side mostly because there may well be a situation where there suddenly is no longer space for him in a team that also has five frontline bowling options. I’m backing the rest of the top six to make it through to 2025 with Root eventually acquiescing and moving back to three.

English spinners have endured nightmare tours of Australia in recent times and I think there’s a decent chance that their main spinner in 2025 will be picked on their batting and ability to balance the side as much as anything else, and by 2025, I’m backing Ahmed to be a legitimate top seven option for England with the bat. Curran comes in at eight – he is as Bazball as they come – while the seam attack consists of Robinson – who actually had a decent tour of Australia in 2021/22 – and England’s two new, exciting quicks, Atkinson – who was clocked at 95mph just yesterday – and Tongue.

Katya Witney, Wisden.com staff writer

Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Ben Stokes (c)
Joe Root
Harry Brook
Jonny Bairstow (wk)
Sam Curran
Rehan Ahmed
Ollie Robinson
Gus Atikinson
Josh Tongue

Crawley and Duckett will have formed a world-dominant opening partnership by this point. Crawley will be flaky as ever but will have scored two more double-centuries amid a run of mediocre form to alleviate enough pressure. Theories will be circulating about Duckett’s supposed vulnerability to the short ball on the Gabba pitch, all of which will be labelled heightist.

Stokes will have finally conceded that he is no longer able to fulfill his role as an allrounder, but will send down at least five overs of off-spin per match to alleviate boredom. This will also have spelt an end for Leach in matches outside Asia. England will go with Ahmed’s leg-spin in Australia, with Root now also considered a genuine all-rounder after his second five-for in India the year before.

Stokes inability to bowl pace means Pope doesn’t find a place in the XI. Root and Brook will both reach centuries at the Gabba, a symbolic handing over of the torch from one Yorkshireman to the next. Bairstow is tricky – he’ll be the only member of the squad with more than one century in Australia if he does go. My prediction is that he will have been briefly ousted as keeper by Ollie Robinson the summer before, and considered retirement only for Stokes to entice him back in with promises of another righteous press conference.

Curran will be the worthy heir to Stokes as the side’s genuine all-rounder, though some will be justifiably concerned about the effectiveness of his bowling with a Kookaburra ball. Robinson leads England’s attack and the pre-series war of words and Atkinson comes in as the tear-away pacer, with Archer ruled out just weeks before England fly to Australia. Tongue forms the last part of an attack which looks the most suited to Australian conditions in years.