The Ashes 2025-26, Adelaide Test: The third Ashes Test between Australia and England is set to take place in Adelaide. England had announced their playing XI some time ago, and now Australia's team has also been revealed. Australia won the first two Tests under Steve Smith's captaincy, but there's a change in leadership for this match. Pat Cummins will be the new captain for Australia in this series. He had been leading the team for some time but was sidelined for several months due to injury. Now he's making his comeback.
The third Ashes Test is set to begin in Adelaide on December 17th. This match marks Pat Cummins' return to the team after five months, and his inclusion makes the Australian playing XI look incredibly strong. Nathan Lyon has also returned to the playing XI. It was thought that Usman Khawaja might get a chance in the Adelaide Test, but he hasn't made the cut. The Australian team will be going with the opening pair of Travis Head and Jake Weatherald.
In the current Ashes series, Khawaja was only part of the Australian team for the first Test. He wasn't included in the second Test, and now he's also been left out of the playing XI for the third Test. The reason behind this decision is clearly his poor form. In the first Test, the only one he played in the series, he managed to score just 2 runs in one of his innings.
"He's a real team man. He'll do whatever the team needs," Cummins said of Khawaja in Adelaide on Tuesday.
“We do that with the bowlers, this week, obviously, Nathan Lyon’s coming back in, he missed last week. One of Uzzie’s (Khawaja) great strengths is that he has scored runs at the top, he scored runs in the middle,” he added.
Australia has also made changes to its fast bowling attack. They have dropped Michael Neser from the third Test, and Brendan Doggett has also been left out. Both players were part of the team in the second Test. Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon have been brought into the team to replace them.
For Cummins the match will mark his first Test appearance since he featured against the West Indies in the middle of the year, with the right-armer revealing he was ready to return and won't be restricted by the amount of overs he can bowl.
"Yeah, I am good to go," Cummins said.
"I've been bowling at 100 percent for a while now. If I played in Brisbane I would have probably been on limited overs, but this week, it's just go and play like any other Test match."
Meanwhile, Nathan Lyon was dropped from the team for the pink-ball Test played in Brisbane. However, he has now made a comeback to the team.
Australia Playing-11 for 3rd Test: Jake Weatherald, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.
England Playing-11 for 3rd Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue.
