Injury to Mark Wood has opened the door for an allrounder to get an opportunity to play in the pink-ball Test under lights in Brisbane
England have taken heed of the Gabba’s reputation as a graveyard for visiting spinners in day-night Tests as they picked allrounder Will Jacks over frontliner Shoaib Bashir to play in the second NRMA Insurance Ashes Test.
Mark Wood’s dodgy left knee has sidelined him from this week’s pink-ball encounter in Brisbane. The visitors have replaced him with Jacks, a versatile T20 blaster who bowls useful off-breaks but has not played a Test in three years.
The move away from an all-pace attack is the only change for Ben Stokes’ men after their eight-wicket defeat in the series opener.
England 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
Wood only bowled 11 overs in Perth but has previously indicated he was no chance of playing all five Tests on this tour, and has been sporting a heavy-duty brace on his left leg this week.
The speedster’s absence robs Stokes of a wicket-taking force but deepens England’s batting line-up. Brydon Carse, with a Test batting average of 22, could bat as low as 10.
Jacks bowled extensively during the tourists’ training session on Tuesday afternoon while Bashir was sparsely used.
The 27-year-old former Hobart Hurricanes man played the most recent of his two Tests in 2022 on England’s tour of Pakistan. He took six wickets in his debut innings, but then failed to take another in his next three.
The right-hander is an explosive batter and will be a threat at No.8 if he comes in against a tiring Australian attack. He was deployed as high as three in his most recent Test to allow Ollie Pope a longer break after wicketkeeping.
Bashir’s snub meanwhile is a bitter pill for England’s only specialist slow man in their squad. England have essentially groomed Bashir for this tour as their answer to Nathan Lyon with a high release point that was expected to make him a threat on bouncy Australian pitches.
But a bowling average of almost 40 from 19 Tests hardly demands inclusion.
He did show remarkable resilience in his most recent Test appearance when he took the winning wicket against India at Lord’s bowling with a badly fractured finger.
Australia has been a brutal place for touring spin bowlers over the years, and the pink ball has proved an even more impotent weapon here than the red.
It has yielded slow bowlers 28 wickets at 64 in 13 Tests under lights in this country. At the Gabba, that figure balloons to seven wickets at 124.
While that is from a limited sample size of three games in which only two specialist spinners have played for visiting teams, it largely mirrors the fact this venue has been less friendly to Nathan Lyon as well.
Lyon has 43 pink-ball wickets at a supreme 25.62. His bowling average drops to 24 in day-night games at Adelaide Oval (for 28 wickets) but his nine victims at the Gabba have cost a more expensive 35 runs apiece. He fares better in day Tests in Brisbane with 43 wickets at 27.
Australia have been dominant overall in floodlit Tests but England are taking heart from West Indies’ upset win in a pink-ball match at this ground in January last year.
England batter Ollie Pope said the Queensland capital’s short twilight period before dusk would be a factor to be wary of.
“We know Australia have a good record here but, at the same time, we saw West Indies went and turned them over last time,” Pope said on Tuesday.
“We take that as a bit of a positive but, at the same time, we don’t try to look too much into those things as a team.
“We’ve obviously seen it gets dark quite early here. Whether that makes it less of a lottery… it might make it a little bit more even, because it’s not just that hour at the end of the day, it’s (dark for) half the day’s play.
“I think it’s going to pose different challenges for batters and different challenges for bowlers at different times in the game. I guess it’s just when you get on top, can you really drive it forward?”
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (second Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood
