England playing XI for the third Ashes 2025-26 test announced, one massive change made

The England Cricket Team have announced their playing XI for the next match of the Ashes 2025-26 against the Australian Cricket Team. The third game of the series will be played at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide from December 17.

England have made one change to their XI from the last match, replacing Gus Atkinson with Josh Tongue. The rest of the English side remains the same despite the injury concerns in the camp with Mark Wood getting ruled out of the series with a knee injury. 

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett will be opening the innings and will have a lot depending on him. While Crawley was in the runs in the last game, Duckett has struggled to get going in the previous two games. He would be keen to return to runs in the next game.

Ollie Pope has looked with the bat but hasn’t been able to make a big impact. The England middle-order features  Joe Root, Harry Brook and captain Ben Stokes. A lot would be reliant on them along with the lower-order, who have been among the runs.

Jos Tongue with his pace will hold a key for his team and would want to make a real impact. He will be sharing the fast bowling duties with Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse. 

England playing XI for the third test against Australia

1. Zak Crawley
2. Ben Duckett
3. Ollie Pope
4. Joe Root
5. Harry Brook
6. Ben Stokes (c)
7. Jamie Smith (wk)
8. Will Jacks
9. Brydon Carse
10. Jofra Archer
11. Josh Tongue

England are 2-0 down in the series and it will be a must-win game for them to save the series. In both the last games, they faced defeats by 8 wickets. They also have faced a lot of criticism and it will be a great opportunity for them to make a comeback.