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Will Jacks included in England playing XI for 2nd Ashes Test vs AUS; Mark Wood out

Abhinav Tyagi

Ben Stokes and rest of the team - (Source: AFP)Ben Stokes and rest of the team - (Source: AFP)

On Thursday, December 2, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) released the playing XI for 2nd Ashes Test. Notably, the Three Lions are all set to lock horns against Australia at the Gabba, Brisbane on December 4. The Ben Stokes-led side are fresh off an embarrassing defeat in the Ashes opener.

For the upcoming match, England have made a solitary change to their playing XI as Will Jacks replaces injured Mark Wood. The right-arm seamer is struggling with a sore knee and was ruled out of the 2nd Test a few days after the curtain raiser. 

England's playing XI for the 2nd Test

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer

Will Jacks returns after three years

The upcoming match will mark Will Jacks' return to Test cricket after a hiatus of three years. Notably, Jacks has played just two Tests in his career and is all set to play his third-ever red-ball game and that too a day-night pink ball Test.

Jacks has made his name in white-ball format and is a regular in ODIs and T20Is. However, he was mostly out of scheme of things for England in this format before the Ashes. 

Why did ECB pick Jacks over Tongue, Bashir?

The idea behind this move is likely to add extra batter in the line-up, rather than seeing Jacks as a spin option for the team. England struggled to put big scores in the first Test, which is why Jacks is likely to get a nod ahead of Tongue and Bashir because of his abilities with the bat.

Talking about Will Jacks, he played the County cricket recently, where he took five wickets with the ball and also scored a century with the bat.