Captain Stokes set to be fit for start of Ashes as England announces 16-man squad

LONDON (AP) — England captain Ben Stokes is on track to be fit for the start of the Ashes series against Australia and he’ll have a new vice-captain Down Under in Harry Brook.

England’s 16-man squad for the Ashes was announced on Tuesday and will be led by Stokes, who has been recovering from a shoulder injury that ruled him out of the final test of the home series against India this summer.

The first test of the Ashes is in Perth from Nov. 21 and Stokes is expected to be available, England said.

Brook, England’s recently appointed captain in the white-ball formats, will take over as vice-captain of the test team from Ollie Pope, who kept his place in the squad.

Among the pace options is Mark Wood, who returned to the squad following his recovery from a left knee injury and Matthew Potts, who last featured at test level in December against New Zealand. Shoaib Bashir has recovered from the finger injury sustained during the India series and is the only specialist spinner selected.

Batting allrounder Will Jacks, who plays for England’s limited-overs teams, was called up and could make his first appearance since December 2022 against Pakistan, likely as the backup spinner to Bashir.

Jacks will miss the white-ball tour of New Zealand — containing three Twenty20s and three one-day internationals — because of a broken finger but England said he is expected to be fit in time for the Ashes.

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England: Ben Stokes (captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket