England have confirmed a four-man pace attack for the first Ashes Test, with Ben Stokes winning the toss and electing to bat first in Perth.
The tourists had named a 12-man squad in the lead-up to the match, with the only spot up for grabs between spinner Shoaib Bashir and seamer Brydon Carse.
Stokes confirmed at the toss that Carse, who has nine Tests to his name after making his debut in Pakistan last year, had been selected, with the Optus Stadium pitch set to continue the trend of recent Test surfaces in Australia and favour pace.
The call to bat first mimics the England captain’s decision in the first Test of the 2023 Ashes series, bucking the trend of his team’s desire to chase in the fourth innings since Brendon McCullum took over as coach and instilled their ‘Bazball’ approach three years ago.
Speaking on Channel 7, former England great Stuart Broad said he was ‘a little bit surprised’ by the line-up, but defended England’s pace-first approach and the call to bat first.
“I think it’s the right decision. You look at the stats of five matches here, five teams winning batting first, I think Stokes does take into that consideration, although he often goes with his gut feeling,” Broad said.
“He is a bowl-first captain generally … in Australia, historically a good place to win the toss and bat, get runs on the board, let your bowlers go to work when the pitch has worn a little bit.
“A brave call not playing a spinner and batting first, but that is what Ben Stokes is.”
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