Overview
- The five-Test series starts on 21 November at Optus Stadium, with the curator expecting a green, fast, bouncy pitch favoring pace.
- Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are out injured, so Smith leads a side anchored by Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, with Cameron Green fit to bowl.
- Jake Weatherald debuts as opener and Brendan Doggett joins the attack, producing the first Australian men’s Test XI to include two Indigenous players alongside Scott Boland.
- England have named a 12 that features Jofra Archer and Mark Wood but are withholding their final XI while weighing an all-seam attack against selecting spinner Shoaib Bashir.
- Ben Stokes calls the tour the biggest of his captaincy and vows to “write our own history,” targeting an end to England’s long drought in Australia.