Ashes 2025-26: Australia Aims To Go 2-0 Up Against Determined England

Hosts Australia will aim to drive home the advantage and inch closer to retaining the Ashes when they take on a bruised but determined England in a rare Pink Ball game at the Gabba in Brisbane. The reason why we are saying rare is because a Pink Ball game generally takes place in Adelaide but this season it is taking place in Brisbane. Australia are up 1-0 in the series and will look to drive home the advantage and enhance their Pink-Ball record while England will aim to bounce back hard and they have no choice but have to bounce back.

Australia will be led by Steve Smith once again in the absence of Pat Cummins although there is an outside chance and remote possibility that Cummins might make a surprise entry into the XI although chances of that are low. Australia have named an unchanged squad from the previous Test which means Josh Hazlewood will miss out as he is still recovering from the injury. But they will make one change as Usman Khawaja has been ruled out of the Test with back spasms. They will name the XI at the toss with either Josh Inglis or Beau Webster replacing him with Travis Head opening with Jake Weatherald.

For England, well they have announced their Playing XI already and have been forced to make a change with Mark Wood ruled out. Will Jacks replaces him and strengthens their batting and will bat at 8. The rest of the team remains same as England will aim to bounce back despite having a poor record in Pink-Ball Test matches but they have no choice but to bounce back. The stage is set for Round 2 of Ashes 2025-26.

Overview. 

The Gabba Brisbane is ready to roll out the red carpet for Round 2 of Ashes 2025/26 where Australia and England will lock horns in a Pink-Ball test match from 4th December, 2025 at 9:30 AM IST onwards. Australia who are 1-0 up in the series after a terrific win in the 2-day Test in Perth will look to drive home the advantage and take a 2-0 lead in the series while England will be desperate to bounce back and level the series 1-1 with a win against all odds in Pink Ball Test matches as England are yet to beat Australia in these face-offs.

The Perth Test lasted two days and wow it was a Test match full of action. Ben Stokes the England captain won the toss and decided to bat first but rightly so. The batting faltered against Mitchell Starc who bowled brilliantly as England also gave their wickets away towards the end to be bundled out for 172 with only Harry Brook making a half-century with Mitchell Starc picking 7 wickets. Australia too faltered in reply and never got going as Ben Stokes 5-wicket haul skittled them out for 132 with no one scoring 50.

England got a vital and what seemed a match-defining lead of 40 runs in the 4th innings and it looked crucial at that stage. At Lunch on Day 2, England were 59/1 and 99 runs ahead in firm grip of the match. But things turned dramatically south for the tourists after Lunch on Day 2. England collapsed as Scott Boland shone through with 4-wicket haul while Mitchell Starc picked up 3 wickets and ended with 10 in the match while Brendan Doggett picked up 3 wickets as well with England playing rash shots to be bowled out for 164.

Chasing 205 was still a challenge for Australia and had to rejig their top order with Usman Khawaja unavailable to bat. It meant Australia needed a new opener and boy Travis Head stepped up to open with Jake Weatherald and it was the Head show as he took the game away from England in a session. He played proper T20 in Tests and gave England a taste of their own medicine with his 123 off 83 balls while Marnus Labuschagne made an excellent fifty as Australia chased down 205 in a session inside 28.2 overs with 8 wickets in hand to go 1-0 up and England were left to what might have been.

Coming into this Test match, Australia named an unchanged squad but will miss the services of Usman Khawaja due to back injury. One of Josh Inglis or Beau Webster is likely to come into the Playing XI with an outside chance that Pat Cummins will play the Test match and lead the side but those chances are remote at this stage. Travis Head might continue opening the batting. England have made one change with Mark Wood ruled out and Will Jacks coming in and lengthening the batting order more. The rest of the XI is same apart from this change.

Australia have a great pink ball record winning 13 out of 14 games but that solitary loss came against West Indies in early 2024 at the same venue Gabba in Brisbane. So, England have inspiration to look into but they need to play well to win the contest. The stage is set for an intriguing Pink Ball Test at the Gabba and let’s see who gets the bragging rights in the end.

Head-To-Head. 

Australia and England have a rich history and faced each other in 362 matches in total. Australia have won 153 of them while England have won 112. 97 matches have ended in Draw. It is 7-3 in Australia’s favour in the last 10 matches as they have dominated England lately.

Pitch & Weather Report. 

The pitch in Brisbane is expected to see a green top in Brisbane and with the pink ball on offer, pacers will get significant assistance. There will be lateral movement and bounce on offer for the pace bowlers. Batters will need to be wary of what’s thrown at them and take their time. The middle session, in particular, will challenge the batters in Brisbane with the pink ball causing issues under the lights. New ball will see bowlers get the desired help.

According to the weather forecast, no rain is expected on the first three days of this clash. Temperatures will hover around 30 degrees. Days four and five could see rain with clouds coming in. There is a chance of heavy thunderstorm in the afternoon on Sunday followed by mostly cloudy with occasional rain and a thunderstorm on day five.

Predicted/Announced Playing XI of the two teams. 

Here, we will predict the probable playing XI of both sides with England already announcing their playing XI.

Australia Probable XI: Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith (c), Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Brendan Doggett, Scott Boland.

England Announced XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer.

Key Players to watch out for in this clash. 

Travis Head: Fresh off a stunning hundred in Perth, Travis Head will be a key player to watch out for in this clash. He from the top of the order can give Australia a fast start and knock England out of their game plans. With him opening the batting now, the onus will be on Head to consistently deliver and do well for his side. If he does that, England will feel the heat under the sun one feels. He is a swashbuckling player.

Mitchell Starc: Mitchell Starc was the star of the show with 10 wickets in Perth and now he enters a particular match where he is the picaso of it. Pink Ball Tests and Mitchell Starc go hand in hand as he has picked up 81 wickets in 14 games and has an impressive strike rate and average. With Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood still out with injuries, the onus is on Starc to deliver the goods for the Aussies yet again.

Harry Brook: Harry Brook is the vice-captain of this side and a quality player at that. He has been in rich vein of form and he will be a player to watch out as he can take the game away from the hosts batting at 5. He has tremendous ability and goes berserk at times and England will hope Brook comes good and he scores a big one to lift England as well.

Jofra Archer: Jofra Archer breathed fire in the first innings in Perth and rattled the Aussies. He couldn’t replicate that in the second innings because he did not get enough rest thanks to England’s abject batting performance. Archer will hope to breathe fire and expose Australia’s fragility at the top which he can and has the capability of doing it. He will hope to get the pink ball talking and put huge amounts of pressure on Australia if he can.

Key Stats/Records to look forward to in this Test match. 

• Travis Head is 10 sixes away from becoming the third highest six hitter in Ashes history with 22 sixes.
• Joe Root is 5 sixes away from completing 50 sixes in his Test career.
• Ben Duckett is 79 runs short of reaching 3,000 Test runs.
• Steve Smith is just one half century away from equalling the record for the third most fifties in the Ashes.

Predicted/Possible Outcome of the Match. 

It is tough to predict the outcome of the match from the very beginning with two sides having their similar strengths and weaknesses. But looking at history and where the sides are at, we reckon taking everything into consideration that Australia starts this match as favourites and should go 2-0 up after 2 matches. But England can spring up a surprise for all we know.

Let’s see how things unfold and whether England can surprise Australia at the Gabba.

Also Read: Ashes 2025-26: Pat Cummins & Josh Hazlewood Rested For Brisbane Test