Former England all-rounder and now an expert and commentator David Lloyd has picked England’s playing XI for the 2025-26 edition of the Ashes series against Australia. This season’s Ashes series will be played from November 21 to January 8, 2026 across five venues in 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 then the next three matches will be played in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney respectively.
David Lloyd includes Haseeb Hameed & Jacob Bethell & left out Zak Crawley & Ollie Pope
David Lloyd in his playing XI included Haseeb Hameed as opener and left-handed batter Jacob Bethell at Number 3. 28-year-old Hameed has scored 439 runs in 10 Test matches and last played in the whites for England in January 2022 against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
In the ongoing County Championship Division One season playing for Nottinghamshire, Hameed has scored 1108 runs in 11 matches which is the most by anyone. The right-hander 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 Playing 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, he scored 306 runs in 9 innings.
David Lloyd includes Rehan Ahmed as specialist spinner over Shoaib Bashir.
David Lloyd included Rehan Ahmed as a specialist spinner over Shoaib Bashir. The 21-year-old spinner has been the man in form and fire with the bat in hand playing 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 in about 10 matches. With the ball. he has managed to take 23 wickets in 10 matches.
As far as fast bowlers go, David Lloyd felt that Gus Atkinson will be the main man alongside Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes as Lloyd assumes Woakes will be fit in time for the Ashes from his dislocated shoulder that he suffered against India in the 5th and final Test match.
David Lloyd’s Playing XI for Ashes 2025-26:
David Lloyd’s England’s playing XI for Ashes 2025-26 is as follows:
Ben Duckett. Haseeb Hameed, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes.
It remains to be seen whether David Lloyd’s prediction comes true and does England make these bold changes to their squad. His justification is very much valid and he has good points as to why he has excluded Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope from the playing XI. But knowing the England team, they might give Crawley a longer rope since the combination with Duckett has worked well for England at the top while Pope is the vice-captain and is expected to get longer rope.
The surprising aspect is the choice of spinner by David Lloyd. He has gone for Rehan Ahmed who is more known with bat than ball over Shoaib Bashir. It’s a very interesting call as Liam Dawson was picked as replacement in the Test match against India. David Lloyd didn’t even talk about Jack Leach who we felt would have been the better choice to come ahead or as replacement for Bashir but David has gone with Rehan Ahmed more because of his batting capabilities.
It will be interesting to see how things pan out and move from here as we get closer to the series in November. How England will shape up and compete against the mighty Aussies in a country where England are yet to register a Test win since 2011. England have to come with better planning and play out of their skins as well.
Also Read: Ashes 2025-26: Stuart Broad Comes Up With Hilarious Response To Glenn McGrath’s 5-0 Prediction