England have selected Stuart Broad over Mark Wood for the first Ashes Test which will begin at Edgbaston on Friday (June 16).
Broad’s 20th five-fer in the one-off Test against Ireland earlier this month earned his inclusion in the team.
England will play a three-man seam attack consisting of the veteran James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Broad.
The decision to exclude Wood, who bowls at 150kph+ on a regular basis, is still fuelled by uncertainty surrounding England’s skipper Ben Stokes. The all-rounder, 32, trained with full pace in the nets at Edgbaston on Wednesday has not bowled in a competitive match since March.
England’s Moeen Ali, who played his last Test in 2021, has also come out of retirement to help his team in the Ashes 2023.
A one-word message from Stokes was all it took to bring the all-rounder Moeen back into England’s red-ball set-up as the 35-year-old stated that only Stokes could have persuaded him to come out of Test retirement.
“Then the news came through and I had a chat with him,” he said. “That was it. It’s the Ashes. To be part of it would be amazing,” he said.
Moeen, who made his Test debut in 2014, played his last Test against India at the Oval in September 2021 and is now excited to mark his return in the Ashes.
It must be noted that the all-rounder has scored 2,914 runs in 64 Tests at an average of 28.29, and picked up 195 wickets with his off-spin.
The upcoming Ashes is the most anticipated one as England have won 11 of 13 Tests in the past 12 months under the captaincy of Ben Stokes playing with their “Bazball” brand while Australia have just won the World Test Championship defeating India by 209 at the Oval in London.
England’s team for the first Ashes Test:
Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jonathan Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.
- Stuart Broad