{"id":34225,"date":"2026-01-02T12:04:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T12:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34225"},"modified":"2026-01-02T12:04:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T12:04:37","slug":"bashir-potts-in-england-squad-for-final-ashes-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34225","title":{"rendered":"Bashir, Potts in England squad for final Ashes Test"},"content":{"rendered":"
Seamer Matthew Potts and spinner Shoaib Bashir were included in a 12-man England squad Friday for the fifth Ashes Test against Australia as the tourists look to finish the series on a high.<\/p>\n

Potts is the only unused fast bowler from their original 16-man squad and gets his chance after Gus Atkinson limped off with a hamstring issue at the previous Test in Melbourne, which England won inside two days.<\/p>\n

Fellow quicks Jofra Archer and Mark Wood have similarly succumbed to injury.<\/p>\n

Wood (knee) only played the first Test in Perth while Archer was ruled out after the third Test in Adelaide with a side strain.<\/p>\n

Australia have already won the series and retained the urn.<\/p>\n

Potts is expected to add to his 10 caps in Sydney on Sunday, having last played a Test in December 2024, as a direct replacement for Atkinson.<\/p>\n

Bashir and Will Jacks will vie for the final spot.<\/p>\n

Bashir was considered England’s top spinner when they arrived in Australia but has yet to play with all-rounder Jacks preferred.<\/p>\n

Australia lead the five-Test series 3-1 but England gained confidence from their frantic, four-wicket Melbourne victory.<\/p>\n

Opener Zak Crawley said it would be a “pretty good series” if they managed to end it 3-2 down.<\/p>\n

“I think there’s a big difference just internally in the group,” he said when asked the difference between losing 4-1 or 3-2.<\/p>\n

“It just shows a lot about our group and how united we are if we can get a win.<\/p>\n

“It might not go our way, but if we can put up a good performance this week, that says a lot about the group.”<\/p>\n

The Sydney Cricket Ground’s head curator Adam Lewis is under-pressure to produce a pitch that helps both bat and ball after the Melbourne wicket was heavily slanted in favour of the fast bowlers.<\/p>\n

Batting on that track, which was labelled “unsatisfactory” by the International Cricket Council, was treacherous.<\/p>\n

Lewis told reporters his ground staff were aiming for six millimetres of grass, compared to the 10 in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

“The only thing we can’t control is the weather,” said Lewis, with rain showers expected on Sunday and Monday.<\/p>\n

“We’re just trying to prepare a pitch that’s a great balance for bat and ball.”<\/p>\n

England squad: Ben Stokes (capt), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seamer Matthew Potts and spinner Shoaib Bashir were included in a 12-man England squad Friday for the fifth Ashes Test against Australia as the tourists look to finish the series on a high. Potts is the only unused fast bowler from their original 16-man squad and gets his chance after Gus Atkinson limped off with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}