Bethell At 3, No Shoaib Bashir! David Lloyd Picks England's Playing XI For Ashes
The 2025-26 edition of the Ashes series between England and Australia will be played from November 21 to January 8 in five different venues across Australia.
Former England all-rounder David Lloyd, who has now donned the hat of an expert and commentator, has picked England's playing XI for the 2025-26 edition of the Ashes series against Australia. This year's Ashes series will be played from November 21 to January 8, 2026, in five venues across Australia. The series opener is scheduled to take place at Optus Stadium in Perth from November 21 to 25. The Gabba in Brisbane will host the pink ball Day/Night Test from December 4 to 8, and the next three matches will be played in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, respectively.
In his playing XI, Lloyd included Haseeb Hameed as opener and left-handed batter Jacob Bethell at No. 3. 28-year-old Hameed, who has 439 runs to his name in 10 Tests, last played in the whites for England in January 2022 against the Baggy Greens at Sydney Cricket Ground.
In the ongoing County Championship Division One season for Nottinghamshire, Hameed has scored 1108 runs in 11 matches, which is the most by anyone.
The right-handed batter has been backed by Lloyd to replace Zak Crawley as an opener. Crawley suffered a lot of criticism for his inconsistent form in the five-match Test series against India, which concluded on August 4 at The Oval.
In his XI, Lloyd also excluded England's Test vice-captain Ollie Pope. Like Crawley, Pope also wasn't able to perform as per the expectations in the home series against the Shubman Gill-led side. The right-handed batter from Surrey played all five matches but, with the help of one century and one fifty, scored 306 runs in nine innings.
Lloyd included Rehan Ahmed as a specialist spinner over Shoaib Bashir.
The 21-year-old spinner has been on fire with the bat for Leicestershire in the ongoing County Championship Division Two. With the help of five centuries and one fifty, he has scored a total of 760 runs in 16 innings of 10 matches. With the ball, he has accounted for the dismissal of 23 batters in 10 matches.
As fast bowlers, Lloyd mentioned Gus Atkinson and Jofra Archer's names along with Chris Woakes.
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