Visitors have their strongest Ashes squad in years but face an Australian team brimming with experienceAge 32 Caps 71 Captain/right-arm fast/right-hand batWhile technically not in the squad for the first Test while recovering from a back injury, Cummins remains captain in the full-time sense, and will still go to Perth with the coaching staff.Leadership aside, he recently passed 300 wickets while averaging 22.10: only Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall and Kagiso Rabada have taken more for less.Pace and movement create his ability to remove set batters.England will hope he stays sore.

Age 36 Caps 119 Vice-captain/right‑hand bat/right-arm leg-spinEtched into English minds for his run-hunger from 2015 to 2019, when his series tallies topped 500, then 600, then 700, Smith’s returns have been modest in his past two Ashes, averaging in the 30s.The machine got back into gear last season against India, meaning so much depends on whether England can jam it up again.The alternative could be death by a thousand tucks, or by his recent more expansive off-side play.Smith will also captain when Cummins cannot.Age 33 Caps 0 Right-arm medium‑fast/right-hand bat The perennial tourist, Abbott has been Mark Twaining around the world for what feels like a decade, occasionally getting a one-day match but never yet a Test.

His free time is reflected in a bulging gym physique.His elevation over others is curious given a modestly decent domestic career, but he is valued for the all‑round talent he offers in being able to hit a length, whack a ball, and devour a catch.He will miss the first Test with a hamstring injury.Age 36 Caps 14 Right-arm medium‑fast/right-hand bat The breakout hero of the last southern tour, Boland burst into the spotlight with six for seven at the MCG, an Indigenous player becoming the first Australian to win the Johnny Mullagh Medal.But Australia’s depth has limited him to 13 subsequent Tests.

England watchers cling to having whacked him at Headingley in 2023, but Boland still does his damage in bursts.Fresh off a hat‑trick in Jamaica, he has 62 wickets at an 1800s average of 16.53.Age 34 Caps 43 Wicketkeeper/left‑hand bat Australia’s fallback plan when things go wrong, Carey has so often been the cool head making necessary repairs with the bat, either absorbing pressure or counterattacking on his way to two centuries and 11 fifties.Meanwhile his glovework has improved with each series.

He conceded that he was thrown in 2023 by the virulent crowd response to his legitimate stumping of Jonny Bairstow, so will now be determined to avoid that happening twice.Age 31 Caps 0 Right-arm medium‑fast/right-hand bat A tall Queenslander whose first appearances in Australian colours came as part of an Indigenous XI, Doggett has chipped away in the Sheffield Shield until winning consideration in recent months for the national team.With Josh Hazlewood out of the first Test with a hamstring injury, Doggett is a strong chance to play in Perth.Age 26 Caps 32 Right-hand bat/right-arm fastAustralia’s bionic lab project, Green seeks to answer the question of what would happen if a 2m tall fast bowler who can hit 90mph could also twinkle down the pitch with sharp footwork and lace a cover drive against pace or a loft against the spinners.An absurd talent with the bat, Green has yet to fully put that together with his bowling but, as the only squad member in his 20s, he still has time.

Age 34 Caps 76 Right-arm medium‑fast/left-hand bat The only one of Australia’s big three bowlers yet to reach 300 Test wickets, Hazlewood could get there and past Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson with a half‑decent series.Tall, supernaturally consistent, getting difficult bounce as the ball leaps at the shoulder of the bat, even Hazlewood’s recent white-ball work suggests he is bowling as well as at any time in his life.He has a history of going down injured early in series, though, and will miss the first Test, prompting the inclusion of Michael Neser as cover.Age 31 Caps 60 Left-hand bat/right‑arm off-spin The slasher and dasher who took apart England at the Gabba last time they visited, Head is prone to producing early statement innings on seaming wickets.His willingness to carve through the covers or backward point naturally brings the bowlers into the game, but when they don’t make the most of that risk equation he beats teams singlehandedly.

Has been a touch out of sorts lately, so England must keep him that way,Age 30 Caps 3 Wicketkeeper/right-hand bat Picked primarily to be versatile, Inglis is the backup keeper but can also lend support in almost any batting position,An adolescent Yorkshire transplant, his accent has not become Australian but his allegiances have, after a ton on debut in Sri Lanka this year,Age 38 Caps 78 Left-hand bat The player with the most question marks coming into the series, Khawaja is near the end of a long career opening the batting but the question is how he gets there,Supporters point to his career‑best 232 at Galle in January, but that was against slow bowling on a slow surface; quality pace elsewhere has ensured it was his only hundred in the past two and a half years.

The Sydney farewell he desires will need runs to get him there.Age 31 Caps 58 Right-hand bat/right-arm leg-spin/right-arm off‑spin/right-arm medium Irrepressible, the chatty first‑drop has responded to his recent omission from the team by peeling off hundreds for Queensland in both long- and short-form cricket, showing his game is back in order after a crisis in confidence.Replicating that at a higher level will be the task, but selectors are confident the rabbit has its batteries charged.Age 37 Caps 139 Right-arm off-spin/right-hand batVastly experienced, this will be Ashes No 8 for the premier spinner, who is also two wickets away from passing Glenn McGrath’s 563 career tally to sit second behind Shane Warne for Australia.Lyon has struggled at times with penetrative spells, but is central to Australia’s gameplan in supporting the main three fast bowlers through the first innings while becoming more prominent in the second.

He is also so close to getting his career average under 30,Age 35 Caps 100 Left-arm fast/left-hand batThe left-arm swing menace who started the previous Australian Ashes tour by knocking out Rory Burns’s leg stump first ball, Starc is not just a threat early,Those spells are when he hoops the new ball back into right-handers, but he has added wobble-seam deliveries to go the other way, has an unsociable short ball, and occasionally gets reverse when conditions allow,Also key down the order with the bat when called upon,Age 31 Caps 0 Left-hand bat/right-arm leg-spinThe only debutant in the likely Perth XI, Weatherald hails from Darwin but made his cricketing path through South Australia to Tasmania, and in 10 seasons chipping away domestically had a fine Shield season and a half at the right time either side of a huge knock for Australia A.

That has been enough for selectors to make a move, selectors also valuing his left‑handed aggression to balance Khawaja’s sedate approach.Age 31 Caps 7 Right-hand bat/right‑arm medium/ right-arm off-spinUnlucky to be back on the fringe after seven largely successful Tests, Webster will probably miss out for Green in the all-rounder’s spot at six, but could be called in for anybody if something goes awry.A determined competitor with the bat rather than one who goes for flourish, Webster already has four fifties at key times in matches, as well as useful wickets.Not making those scores into hundreds, though, has cost him.Age 34 Caps 115 Captain/left-hand bat, right-arm fast-mediumBack where it all began 12 years ago, and with unfinished business on a personal level, Stokes lands in Australia as the keystone of an England team built in his aggressive image.

Fit and firing, Stokes balances everything: a No 6 with previous against the opposition, and a frontline quick capable of game-breaking spells.The big question is whether his body can last five Tests in seven weeks after his best ever summer with the ball once again ended in the infirmary.Age 31 Caps 38 Left-hand batThere is a school of thought that Duckett’s penchant for feeling bat on ball could make him vulnerable in Australia, given the extra bounce and a home attack that has made relentlessness its calling card.But there is more than a touch of David Warner about the left-hander’s proactive approach, one that puts bowlers under pressure from the outset and has proved a reliable source of runs these past three years.A combined XI would see Duckett the first pick as opener on recent form.

Age 27 Caps 59 Right-hand batThis is the tour that has informed England’s persistence with Crawley: a belief that the hard, bouncier surfaces of Australia – plus pace on the ball – is when he will shine brightest.Cut short though it was, a swashbuckling 77 in Sydney four years ago was an early hint at this proficiency.Crawley also finished the 2023 Ashes as England’s highest run scorer and plunged Cummins into the madhouse with an incendiary 189 at Old Trafford.This series will likely be the one that is career-defining, however.Age 27 Caps 61 Right-hand batEngland played down the significance of Pope’s pre-tour removal as vice-captain after nearly three years in the role, claiming he was never that fussed and pointing to Harry Brook’s rising stock as a future leader.

The question now is whether he can allay concerns over his suitability for No 3 after a frustrating summer that started with a bang and – not for the first time – fizzled out thereafter.Experience, flexibility, and cat-like reflexes at short leg are all a plus, as is wicketkeeping if required.Age 34 Caps 158 Right-hand bat/right-arm off-spinSome folks believe Root’s claim to all-time greatness hinges on scoring his first Test hundred in Australia which, for a guy who sits second on the all-time run-scoring charts and has 39 centuries overall, feels slightly absurd.Either way, Root could scarcely be in richer form as he looks to tick off this gap in his CV, with an astonishing 22 centuries in the past five years.And with Matthew Hayden having vowed to “walk nude” around the MCG if he doesn’t, both sets of supporters should be willing him on.

Age 26 Caps 30 Vice-captain/right-hand batThe numbers are staggering.After 30 Tests, Brook averages 57.55 with the bat at an eye-watering strike-rate of 87.52.And of his 10 Test centuries to date, seven have been scored away from home.

This is Brook’s first red‑ball cricket in Australia, however, and the larger outfields could see sixes on English grounds gobbled up on the rope.Will this, plus the vice‑captaincy, lead to Brook reining it in a touch? Probably not.Age 25 Caps 15 Right-hand batThe series against India ended on a low note for Smith when he was unable to get England over the line on the final morning.But it also showed the best of a player who has drawn comparisons with Adam Gilchrist: an 80-ball century at Edgbaston after walking out to face a hat-trick ball.Smith’s aggression does risk tipping into predictability at times and, like Brook, he will need to be wary of the deeper square boundaries in Australia.

An unusually tall wicketkeeper, he should enjoy the bounce and carry.Age 22 Caps 4 Left-hand bat/slow left-armYet to make a first-class century – but having at least scored his first at senior level during the summer’s one-day internationals against South Africa – Bethell flew south in October with a chance of starting the Ashes at No 3.But the runs did not quite flow in New Zealand and, with Ollie Pope making 100 and 90 against the Lions in Perth last week, Bethell will have to wait his turn.Time is on the left-hander’s side, as are an England management who remain convinced of his future stardom.Age 26 Caps 2 Right-hand bat/right-arm off-spinA squad that largely picked itself still had room for one player out of left field, Jacks nudging out Rehan Ahmed and Liam Dawson despite his focus on white-ball cricket since the last of two Test caps won in late 2022.

Not exactly an all‑rounder – the off‑breaks are useful but hardly frontline – Jacks would at least allow England to still have four fast bowlers in their attack were something, heaven forbid, to happen to Stokes.Age 30 Caps 15 Right-arm fast/right-hand batEnglish lips are smacking at the prospect of a fired-up Archer bowling on Australian pitches this winter after a hugely encouraging return during the summer that followed a four‑year absence from Tests.Those well‑documented injury problems will also have English fingers crossed but the management are confident that their caution to date will pay out a significant dividend.The reunion with Steve Smith will doubtless generate headlines but Australia’s left‑handers may be the most troubled.Age 35 Caps 37 Right-arm fast/right-hand batThe only England seamer with prior experience in Australia – he was the one shining light on the doomed 2021-22 tour – Wood is also the greatest unknown after nnee surgery in March meant he missed the summer.

Wood has a track record of bursting out the traps in a Test without any domestic cricket behind him, however, as shown by his 96mph arrival midway through the 2023 Ashes,The three-year central contract he was handed that year was done with this tour in mind,Age 30 Caps 9 Right-arm fast/right-hand batConfidence in Carse having an impact comes from a breakthrough winter in Pakistan and New Zealand 12 months ago during which he claimed 27 wickets in five Tests with the Kookaburra ball,Provided the 30-year-old has overcome a persistent foot problem – his toes buckle when landing, causing blisters – he should offer Stokes plenty of overs, not to mention decent insurance with the bat down the order,Age 27 Caps 13 Right-arm fast‑medium/right-hand batAtkinson missed all but the final Test of the summer but picked up where he left off, at least, claiming eight wickets in that six-run defeat by India to follow his breakout year in 2024.

His slippery pace and a wicket-to-wicket line could prove a source of new-ball wickets if the Australian pitches stay true to their character of the past few years.The retirement of Chris Woakes will probably mean a move to No 8 also.Age 28 Caps 6 Right-arm fast/right-hand batThere is a sense that things may be coming together for Tongue, a fast bowler with plenty of upside.Broad-shouldered and delivering the ball from beyond the perpendicular, he certainly asks plenty of questions.As well as some prior success against Steve Smith, Tongue should also get England off the field quicker, having built a reputation for knocking over tailenders.

There is also a tendency to go for runs,Age 27 Caps 10 Right-arm fast‑medium/right-hand batThe last of the seamers selected for the tour, Potts did not exactly have a vintage season for Durham, taking 29 wickets at 40 runs apiece as they were relegated from Division One,But Potts does provide England with another pitch-up option should the right surface present itself,Fit as a butcher’s dog, his ability to put in a heavy shift could also ease the burden on the outright quicks,Age 22 Caps 19 Right-arm off-spin/right-hand batThe 22-year-old represents something of a project player these past two years, England’s management having surveyed the spin-bowling apples on the orchard floor and decided to instead pluck one from the tree.

The logic went that, without a seasoned option they fancy, the best bet was to replicate the bounce and overspin that has made Lyon successful at home.After plenty of investment with England – but fewer opportunities with Somerset – that theory now faces its acid test.