England will once again keep punters – and Australia – guessing as to the exact make-up of their XI for the second Ashes Test.
Last week the tourists named a 12-man squad for the opening tie of the series. They then dropped a bombshell on game day by dropping Stuart Broad from that list, leaving him and fellow pace great James Anderson sidelined at the Gabba.
This time they’ve named both those bowlers in a 12-man squad announced this evening, ahead of tomorrow’s pink-ball Test at Adelaide Oval.
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But they are two of five specialist bowlers named, and one of those is expected to get the axe before the first ball on Thursday.
Who that is, though, will remain a mystery until the toss in Adelaide.
Broad, Anderson, Ollie Robinson, and Chris Woakes are the specialist fast bowlers picked. Mark Wood has been left out despite being the only England quick surpassing 140km/h regularly at the Gabba.
The specialist spinner is Jack Leach. But he is mightily under the pump after being belted by the Aussies in Brisbane.
If Leach was left out of the team it would leave England with five fast bowlers – including all-rounder Ben Stokes – and captain Joe Root an option to throw down some off-spin to the Aussies.
Rory Burns retains his spot at the top of the batting order despite a disastrous Gabba outing in which he was bowled by Mitchell Starc on the first ball of the series.
England squad for Adelaide: Joe Root (c), Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Haseeb Hameed, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes.
Australia XI for Adelaide: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Lyon
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