AUS vs ENG: England playing XI announced for Ashes fourth test

England has announced their playing XI for the fourth Ashes test, which begins on December 26 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne. Ben Stokes & co. made two changes for the match—Jofra Archer has been ruled out due to his left side strain, while Ollie Pope will also miss. Instead of them, Gus Atkinson & Jacob Bethell have been included in the playing XI.

Gus Atkinson returned to the side after missing the third test. He didn’t perform well in the first two matches, claiming only 3 wickets in 4 innings. While Jacob Bethell features first time in this ongoing series. He featured last time against India earlier this year at the Oval. In that series, he played only 1 match, where his cricket scores were 6 & 5.

Ollie Pope was also struggling so far in the series, scoring 125 runs in 6 innings. After this poor performance, English fans also demand dropping him from the playing XI. On the other hand, Jofra Archer claimed 9 wickets in 6 innings. Archer has been ruled out of the remaining two matches of the series as well. Apart from these two changes, the rest of the playing XI will be the same.

The duo of Jacob Bethell and Gus Atkinson have been included in the England playing XI for the Boxing Day Test against Australia. 🏏

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— OneTurf News (@oneturf_news) December 24, 2025

The ongoing Ashes series is going very disappointingly for the visitors, and they are still searching for the tour’s first victory. Well, after losing the first three games, they have already lost the series. They are now playing for the pride only. So far in this Ashes 2025/26 series, the visitors haven’t given a tough fight to the hosts. They were defeated by 8-8 wickets at Perth & Brisbane, respectively, and 87 runs at Adelaide.

On the other side, Australia will also enter this match with a couple of changes. Aussie regular skipper Pat Cummins and veteran spinner Nathan Lyon have been ruled out of the remaining matches of the series. Jhye Richardson and Todd Murphy have been included in the Australia squad instead of them. While Steve Smith is also returning in the Boxing Day test after missing the third test. It will be fascinating to see with which combination Australia enters the MCG. After already clinching the series, the No. 1-ranked test side might give some opportunity to youngsters.