The starting lineup for England’s third Test against Australia, which begins on July 6 at Headingley in Leeds, was released. Ben Stokes, the captain, and head coach Brendon McCullum have made three significant alterations to the starting lineup. Moeen Ali has been added to the starting XI in place of Ollie Pope, who is now out due to injury. Josh Tongue has been replaced by Mark Wood after only one Test, and James Anderson has taken a break to make room in the starting lineup for Chris Woakes.
Australia has a 2-0 advantage in the five-match series. In the second Test, Pat Cummins and company defeated the hosts by 43 runs. In the dramatic opening Test at Birmingham, England was defeated by two wickets. Australia is in excellent form right now as evidenced by their three straight victories in Test matches this summer in England, beginning with their victory over India in the World Test Championship (WTC 2024) final.
Ben Stokes (Credit: Reuters)
Wood’s arrival in the England team is expected to replace James Anderson
A major setback for Anderson, who struggled with the ball in the first two Tests, is being left off the starting lineup for the third Test. Anderson has only taken three wickets in these two games. If Woakes plays well in the third Test, Anderson might never play for England again, at least not in this series. Anderson has 688 wickets in 181 Tests and needed 12 more to reach 700. Anderson needs 20 more wickets to surpass Shane Warne’s record of 708 Test wickets, and only 19 more to match it.
There may be significant adjustments to England’s pace assault as well. Chris Woakes’ exclusion from the Lord’s Test caused dismay because he had an outstanding record there in all facets of the game, averaging 68 with the bat and just under 10 with the ball. England sadly missed his ability to generate swing and use him as a useful number 8.
Josh Tongue, who made a strong Ashes debut but doesn’t provide as much as his more accomplished adversary, will likely be replaced by Woakes. Mark Wood replacing Ollie Robinson or James Anderson is another potential alteration. The England pace attack has lacked actual pace, therefore one of them may be dropped so that express speed can be added as a new element in Ben Stokes’ arsenal.
Moeen, meanwhile, is reinstated to the starting lineup after being benched for the second Test because England chose to use an all-pace attack. This approach did not go as planned, so management has now turned to Moeen again, whose off-spin should benefit the team in Leeds. Harry Brooks will likely bat at No. 3 since Pope is out.
