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England pick Bashir in 12-man squad for Perth
England have deferred their decision on whether to hit Australia with an all-pace attack in the first Ashes Test at Perth’s Optus Stadium after confirming a 12-man squad featuring both Mark Wood and Shoaib Bashir.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum still have designs on letting their fast bowlers loose on what is expected to be the fastest pitch of the series. Wood is deemed fit, having recovered from a tight hamstring sustained in the warm-up match with the Lions last week. While he is expected to make the final XI, England are giving themselves time before deciding whether to go all-in with their seamers.
Wood bowled for 40 minutes at the Perth nets during Tuesday’s training session, and sent down just two overs on Wednesday afternoon, before taking part in light fielding drills on the outfield with physical preparation coach Pete Sim. He then had a long look at the pitch with stadium curator Isaac McDonald.
Wood would be one of five players in the XI with previous Test experience in Australia, along with Stokes, Joe Root, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope. The 35-year old was also the standout quick on the 2021-22 tour, taking 17 wickets at 26.64.
That includes a career best 6 for 37 in the last Test of that tour, a day-nighter in Hobart, when England also opted to field an XI without a specialist spinner. It was the second time they had done so in that series after the second Test in Adelaide (also a pink-ball match), which was acknowledged as an error in hindsight when seamer Ollie Robinson resorted to sending down a few overs of offspin.
You have to go back to Boxing Day 1998 for the last time England fielded an XI for a red-ball match in Australia without a specialist spinner. They also did not field one in their last Test in July, against India at the Kia Oval, with Bashir out with a finger injury and Liam Dawson, his replacement for the fourth Test, dropped.
Bashir’s characteristics – a high release point and knack of overspin – suits Australian pitches, something Stokes and McCullum raved about when bringing him into the set-up at the start of 2024 for the tour of India.
It is worth noting that Nathan Lyon averages 20.86 at this ground, with 29 dismissals from five Tests, though is obviously a far more accomplished and seasoned operator than Bashir, whose 68 dismissals have come at 39.00 in his 19 Tests so far. The 22-year old struggled during the match between England and the Lions, bowling in three of the four innings and returning figures of 2 for 151 from 24 overs.
England squad for Perth 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
[Cricinfo]
Dambulla Sixers powered by an all-round performance from Marques Ackerman [2-27 and 35] and an unbeaten 64 off 37 balls from Reeza Hendricks handed the Galle Gallants their first defeat in LPL 2026. The match, the 8th game in LPL 2026 was played on Wednesday [22nd July] at Dambulla. The Gallants used nine bowlers but were unable to restraint the Dambulla batsmen who won with six wickets in hand 23 balls remaining.
Scores:
Galle Gallants 178/8 in 20 overs [Lasith Croospulle 12, Sam Harper 40, Charith Asalanka 25, Chamika Karunarathne 45, Dasun Shanaka 20, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 16; Vishwa Lahiru 1-20, Fazalhaq Farooki 3-39, Maheesh Theekshan 1-29, Gulbadin Naib 1-23, Marques Ackerman 2-27]
Dambulla Sixers 180/4 in 16.1 overs [Niroshan Dickwella 14, Shaibzada Farhan 13, Reeza Hendricks 64*, Pavan Rathnayake 29, Marqes Ackerman 35, Gulbadin Naib 20*; Dasun Shanaka 1-18, Mohammad Nawaz 1-40, Eshan Malinga 1-35, Chamika karunarathne 1-07]
Jaffna Kings defended 179 runs to defeat Colombo Kaps by five runs in the 7th Match of the Lanka Premier League played on Wednesday [22nd July] at Dambulla.
Chamindu Wickremasinghe was named player of the match for his 22 ball 43 while Lizaad Williams captured three wickets for the Kings.
Scores
Jaffna Kings 179/6 in 20 overs [Avishka Fernando 34, Kamil Mishara 39, Chamindu Wickremasinghe 43, Ibrahim Zadran 19, Dunith Wellalage 19, Shakib Al Hasan 10*; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-33, Shahnawaz Dehani 2-25, Milan Rathnayake 1-40, Wanuja Sahan 1-10]
Colombo Kaps 174/9 in 20 overs [Kamindu Mendis 58, Sharujan Shanmuganathan 26, Milan Rathnayake 15, Wanuja Sahan 34*; Dilshan Madushanka 2-12, Traveen Mathew 2-21, Lizaad Williams 3-29, Shakib Al Hasan 1-19, Dunith Wellalage 1-33]
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Dambulla Sixers hand Galle Gallants first defeat in LPL 2026
Jaffna Kings beat Colombo Kaps by five runs
Showers will occur in the Western and North-western provinces and Galle, Batticaloa, Ampara and Monaragala districts
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