Australia v England, first Ashes Test: match preview

Match facts

Who: Australia v England

 

What: First NRMA Insurance Test, men's Ashes

 

When: November 21-25, first ball 10.20am local time (1.20pm AEDT; 2.20am GMT)

 

Where: Perth Stadium

 

Live scores: Match Centre

 

How to watch: Channel Seven, 7plus, Kayo Sports, Foxtel and TNT Sports (UK and Ireland)

How to listen: ABC Radio, Triple M, SEN Radio and BBC (UK only). All radio broadcasts will be available to stream in standard and real-time with no delay to live play via Cricket Radio on the CA Live app. Find out more here

 

Buy tickets: Tickets for day one have sold out. A small number of recently released tickets remain available for day two, as well as the rest of the match. Get them here

 

Officials: Adrian Holdstock and Nitin Menon (field), Sharfuddoula Saikat (third), Shawn Craig (fourth), Ranjan Madugalle (match referee)

 

News and reactions post-play: cricket.com.au and the CA Live app. The Unplayable Podcast will also be dropping a new episode after each day's play during the Ashes. Join hosts Josh Schonafinger and Louis Cameron to recap all the action and talking points from Perth Stadium. And you can listen to the back catalogue of episodes below.

Listen on SpotifyListen on Apple PodcastsListen on iHeart Radio

First Test session times

First Session: 10.20am – 12.20pm (1.20pm – 3.20pm AEDT; 2.20am – 4.20am GMT)

 

Second Session: 1pm – 3pm (4pm – 6pm AEDT; 5am – 7am GMT)

 

Third Session: 3.20pm – 5.20pm (6.20pm – 8.20pm AEDT; 7.20am – 9.20am GMT)

 

*An extra 30 minutes is available to complete daily overs

Full series schedule

First Test: November 21-25, Perth Stadium, 1.20pm AEDT

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

The squads

Australia squad (first Test): 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

Australia suffered a huge blow less than a week out from the Ashes opener with Josh Hazlewood ruled out of the first Test with a hamstring injury suffered during his Sheffield Shield appearance for NSW last week. With Scott Boland already set to take the place of Pat Cummins, who will also sit out of the first Test as he continues his recovery from lumbar back stress, South Australian paceman Brendan Doggett is firming for a Test debut in Perth.

Doggett has emerged as the next paceman in line after taking 48 wickets in 10 first-class matches in 2025, including a pair of five-wicket hauls in his two Shield matches this season. Test-capped quick Michael Neser has been brought into the squad as cover and is the sole back-up fast bowler for now after Sean Abbott was ruled out of the first Test having also picked up a hamstring injury playing for NSW last week. 

Intrigue still surrounds the make-up of Australia's top order and who will partner Usman Khawaja against the new ball. Will Jake Weatherald be handed a Test debut or will Marnus Labuschagne be asked to open the batting? Will one or both allrounders in Cameron Green and Beau Webster play in Perth? Green scored 94 and sent down 16 overs across both innings for WA last week in the Sheffield Shield, while Webster claimed a career-best 8-123 with the ball for the match but missed out with the bat for Tasmania.

Regardless, Labuschagne looks set for a recall after being dropped for Australia's 3-0 series win over West Indies, with the Queenslander having scored five centuries for his state already this summer. Spinner Nathan Lyon (562 wickets) will also return to the side to face England after being left out of the pink-ball third Test in Jamaica as Australia opted for four quicks. Lyon is just two wickets away from overtaking Glenn McGrath (563) as Australia's second highest Test wicket-taker.

Steve Smith will lead the side in Cummins' absence, with the Australian captain hopeful of returning for the second Test in Brisbane. Josh Inglis retains his place as the reserve batter and wicketkeeper in the squad with opener Sam Konstas and spinner Matthew Kuhnemann are the two omissions from the squad that beat West Indies earlier this year.

England XII for first Test: Ben Stokes (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Mark Wood

England's top order on the other hand is relatively settled with Ollie Pope winning the race to retain his spot at No.3 over rising star Jacob Bethell. The visitors named a 12-man squad for the Ashes opener on Wednesday evening with the 22-year-old Bethell forced to bide his time after an impressive debut Test series in New Zealand last year that featured three half-centuries, including a 96.

But Pope cemented his spot for the first Test with a century in their warm-up clash with England Lions at Lilac Hill in Perth last week. Bethell is omitted after playing in England's last Test against India at The Oval when captain Ben Stokes missed with a shoulder injury. Pope scored a century in the first Test of that series as well as 71 in the fourth, but was stripped of the vice-captaincy for their Australian tour with England's white-ball skipper Harry Brook named Stokes' deputy.

The visitors have loaded up on pace in their Ashes squad with Jofra Archer set to play his first Test on Aussie soil. After multiple injury setbacks since his breakthrough Ashes campaign in 2019, it's been a patient and calculated comeback by England to get Archer to Australia for this series. He played two Tests against India earlier this year – his first since 2021 – collecting nine wickets. The right-arm speedster arrives in Perth for the Ashes in fine form after taking 3-23 in the second ODI against New Zealand last month. Express quick Mark Wood is also back from knee surgery for the Ashes and has been cleared for the Perth Test after a hamstring scare in the warm-up match. Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse are the other fast bowlers named in the 12 for the first Test with Josh Tongue missing out. Will coach Brendon McCullum be tempted to play four of them in the first Test in Perth or will off-spinner Shoaib Bashir get the nod?

Legendary batter Joe Root has been in formidable form since the last Ashes series down under but is still seeking his first Test century on Australian shores. The right-hander (13,543 runs) went past Ricky Ponting in July to become second highest Test run-scorer of all-time and at 34 years old, a good series in Australia will have him on his way towards Sachin Tendulkar's mark of 15,921.

Brook, who averages 57 in his 30 Tests so far, has burst onto the international stage since England's 2021-22 Ashes tour and is one of 10 players in the visitors' squad yet to play a Test in Australia.

The XIs

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Brendan Doggett, Scott Boland

Stand-in captain Steve Smith confirmed Australia's XI on match eve with dual debutants to face England in the Ashes opener.

Brendan Doggett and Jake Weatherald will become men's Baggy Green cap numbers 472 and 473 respectively, the first time Australia has fielded multiple debutants in an Ashes Test since Sydney in 2011.

Allrounder Beau Webster is the unlucky omission with Cameron Green's return to the bowling crease seeing him drop to No.6 and squeezing the Tasmanian out of the side.

No Pat Cummins and no Josh Hazlewood means Scott Boland retains his place after taking a hat-trick in Australia's last Test in Jamaica. Left-armer Mitchell Starc to lead an Aussie attack minus both Cummins and Hazlewood for just the third time in a decade.

Marnus Labuschagne has won a recall after piling on five centuries for Queensland to begin the domestic season and slots back in at his favoured No.3 position following Green's return to the middle order.

Labuschagne was dropped for Australia's most recent series in the Caribbean, while Nathan Lyon also returns to the XI after being left out of their last Test in Jamaica when selectors opted for an all-seam attack. The off-spinner is the leading bowler in the five Test matches played at Perth Stadium with 29 wickets at a tick over 20.

England (possible): Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse/Shoaib Bashir

Do England go ultra-aggressive and select four quicks? Or do they play it more traditional and go with their off-spinner Shoaib Bashir? Working in Bashir's favour is the fact captain Ben Stokes had a decent bowl in their warm-up match at Lilac Hill, making him a viable fourth seam option.

The other question mark around the make-up of their bowling attack is whether or not they include both of their express pace options in Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. The likelihood of both key men playing all five Tests is slim, so choosing the right time to deploy their strike weapons will be a huge decision for the selectors. Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson have both been consistent, reliable and relatively durable performers for a couple of years.

Jacob Bethell's name has been floated for the number three position but assistant coach Marcus Trescothick hinted last week that Ollie Pope had done enough to deserve first crack in the crucial position, and that was indeed the case when England named their 12-man squad for the first Test on Wednesday.

Broadcast details

Australian audiences will once again be able to watch every ball of this summer's Ashes series on either free-to-air on Channel Seven and its digital streaming platform 7plus, or ad-break free during play and in 4K on Foxtel and Kayo Sports.

7Cricket have recruited renowned English commentator David 'Bumble' Lloyd as well as fast-bowling great Stuart Broad for the series, who will join Seven regulars Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden Justin Langer.

Here's the commentators you can expect to hear across the different broadcasters during the Test series:

Seven and 7plus: Greg Blewett, James Brayshaw, Stuart Broad, Trent Copeland, Aaron Finch (first two Tests only), Damien Fleming, Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich, Tim Lane, Justin Langer, David Lloyd, Mel McLaughlin, Alison Mitchell, Alister Nicholson, Ricky Ponting, Simon Taufel, Peter Lalor, Bharat Sundaresan

Meanwhile, Fox Cricket regulars Isa Guha and former England captain Michael Vaughan return for another summer alongside Adam Gilchrist, David Warner, Mike Hussey and Kerry O'Keeffe.

Foxtel and Kayo: Allan Border, Adam Gilchrist, Isa Guha, Mark Howard, Mike Hussey, Brendon Julian, Brett Lee, Kath Loughnan, Kerry O'Keefe, Michael Vaughan, David Warner, Mark Waugh, Mel Jones

In the UK and Ireland (as well as Isle of Man and Channel Islands), fans can watch the Ashes on subscription service TNT Sports, who will also have their own commentary team led by sports broadcasters Alastair Eykyn and Rob Hatch with expert analysis from former England internationals James Anderson, Alastair Cook, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, Matt Prior and Ebony Rainford-Brent.

If radio is more your thing, then the ABC, Triple M and SEN will all be broadcasting the Test series this summer on Australian airwaves, while BBC has fans covered in the UK.

New this year, the CA Live app has teamed up with NRMA Insurance so you can listen to radio and commentary streams in real-time with no delay to live play using zero-latency technology. Cricket Radio (both standard and real-time) is available worldwide (except south Asian countries, UK and New Zealand) in the CA Live match centre.

Fans can listen to ABC, Triple M, SEN and BBC radio broadcasts throughout the Ashes, with TV commentary from Channel Seven and Fox Cricket exclusive to fans attending a match. Find out more here.

Local knowledge

England have never played a Test at Perth Stadium, but Australia are coming off their first loss at the venue in the red-ball format after being trounced by India by 295 runs last summer.

England's last Test tour of Australia skipped the fledgling cricket venue as the pandemic shut down travel to Western Australia, meaning the tourists will enter uncharted territory in the Ashes opener on November 21. But Ben Stokes' side can expect a similar experience to what they had as the WACA Ground on the other side of the Swan River, with the faster bowlers also enjoying the conditions at the stadium due to the extra pace and bounce offered by the hard surface.

Against India last summer, 17 wickets fell on day one – all to seam bowlers – before the pitch calmed down in the second innings as the visitors put on almost 500 runs with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli scoring centuries. Head curator Isaac McDonald has said he hopes to prepare a pitch with similar characteristics for the first Ashes Test.

But Nathan Lyon – the venue's most prolific bowler in the five Tests to date – has proved that spinners can also be effective and use the bounce to their advantage. Winning the toss appears key at Perth Stadium where the successful captain has opted to bat first in all five matches to date, with their team going on to win the match on each occasion.

Form guide

Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, D: draw

Australia: WWWLWWWWDW

Australia have won their past four bilateral Test series and enter the Ashes on the back of 3-0 sweep of West Indies in their most recent series, which has them sitting on the top of the 2025-27 World Test Championship standings with a points percentage of 100.

But they'll still be stinging from their WTC final defeat to South Africa in June, as well as their failure to win the last Ashes series away from home in 2023 after racing to a 2-0 lead after the first two Tests. Australia haven't lost a Test match to England on home soil since January 2011.

England: LDWLWWLWWL

England arrive in Perth chock-full of confidence and with the belief they can not only win their first Test on Aussie soil since 2011 but reclaim the Ashes urn that they surrendered on the disastrous 2017-18 tour they lost 4-0.

'Bazball' will hit Australian shores for the first time this summer with Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes installed as coach and captain respectively in the aftermath of their last away Ashes tour in 2021-22, which they also lost 4-0. Years of planning has gone into building a pace-bowling unit capable of competing on Australian pitches and speedsters Jofra Archer and Mark Wood have both made it to the start line in Perth fit and healthy. They be supported by Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse.

England lost their most recent Test at The Oval in August, allowing India to draw their five-match series and retain the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Stokes' side had won four of their bilateral contests prior to that, with their most recent series loss when they were spun out in Pakistan in October last year. England squared the last Ashes series at home in 2023 two-all by winning the fifth Test at The Oval.

World Test Championship

We're only in the early stages of the new WTC cycle, but Australia have surged to the top of the standings following their 3-0 sweep of West Indies earlier this year. England are a little further back in sixth after their hard-fought 2-2 draw with India at home.

The Ashes with be both Australia and England's second series of the 2025-27 Test Championship, with each of the nine competing nations to play six series (three at home and three away) during the two-year period. The top two teams, ranked according to their percentage of points won, then face off in the WTC final in England in mid-2027.

The two undefeated teams so far, Australia and Sri Lanka, currently occupy the two top spots, while New Zealand are yet to play a Test in this cycle. Teams receive 12 points for a Test win, six for a tie and four for draw.

Rapid stats

• Australia are undefeated in men's Test series against England in their past four series (won two, drawn two) and haven't lost the Ashes since a 2-3 defeat in August 2015 in England; in fact, Australia have won their last three consecutive Ashes series at home, last losing a home series in 2010-11.
  
  
• England are undefeated in their last three men's Tests against Australia (won two, drawn one) after losing six of their previous seven meetings (one draw).
  
  
• Australia have won their last eight consecutive men's Tests against England in Western Australia, with their only loss in 14 such Tests in December 1978 (by 166 runs). However, this will be the first time that these teams meet at Perth Stadium.
  
  
• Australia have won seven of their last eight men's Tests including their last three in a row, but their last defeat in the format came in the Final of the ICC World Test Championship in June (by five wickets to South Africa). England have lost seven of their last 10 men's Tests away from home.
  
  
• All five men's Tests at Perth Stadium have been won by the team batting first on the day with Australia picking up four wins and one loss in that period. All five matches have also been decided by a margin of 140-plus runs. Australia will be looking to avoid back-to-back losses in Western Australia for the first time since December 2008 after losing by 295 runs to India in their last match in the state.
  
  
• England have a batting strike rate of 70.2 in men's Tests since the end of the last men's Ashes series in July 2023, at least 11 runs per 100 balls higher than any other team in that time (South Africa, 58.5). England are also the only team with a batting dot ball rate below 70 per cent during the same period (England 65 per cent, Australia 71.2 per cent).

• Australia (41.1) have the best bowling strike rate of any team in men's Tests since the end of the last men's Ashes series in July 2023, while England (56.8) have the third-worst ahead of only Zimbabwe (60.3) and Afghanistan (60.6). Australia's Scott Boland (26) has the best bowling strike rate of any player in that time (minimum two Tests).
  
  
• Steve Smith (10,477) is 451 runs away from eclipsing Steve Waugh (10,927) as the third highest run-scorer for Australia in men's Tests. Smith has scored 611 runs at an average of 87.3 across his past nine first-class innings in Western Australia including two double-centuries, one of which was against England in December 2017 (239 runs).
  
  
• Ben Duckett (England) has scored two centuries and three half-centuries across 10 Test innings in 2025 and has made a strong connection on 13.7 per cent of his 691 balls faced so far this year, the joint highest rate of any player to face at least 150 deliveries (also Jamie Smith).

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes

First Test: November 21-25, Perth Stadium, 1:20pm AEDT

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 (first 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