The XI was confirmed shortly before England’s captain, Ben Stokes, addressed the media at Headingley, where his team must win to begin to claw back their 2-0 deficit after defeats at Edgbaston and Lord’s.
Of the three changes, Anderson’s was the most anticipated. He has so far claimed three wickets at 75.33 in an off-colour start to his tenth Ashes campaign, and after declaring the Edgbaston pitch to be “kryptonite”, England’s short-ball approach at Lord’s also went away from his preferred swing-bowling methods.
He makes way for the return of Woakes, who has not played a home Test since September 2021, but whose record of 94 wickets at 22.63 in England makes him the obvious like-for-like replacement.
Moeen’s return provides even more ballast in the lower-middle order, and is further reason why England have opted not to replace Pope with an additional batter, with Essex’s Dan Lawrence the one spare option within their squad. Harry Brook has been handed Pope’s role at No.3, in a show of faith in spite of his quiet series to date. He’s made 132 runs at 33 in four innings, but attracted criticism for a soft dismissal at Lord’s after reaching his half-century.
Moeen missed the Lord’s Test after sustaining a cut to the knuckle of his spinning finger, but he has been deemed fit to resume his comeback to the format. His appearance in the first Test at Edgbaston had been his first since retirement at the end of the India series in 2021, and he resumes needing two more wickets to reach 200 in Tests.
Wood’s extra pace, meanwhile, offers England a genuine point of difference after being noticeably out-matched on the speed gun in the first two Tests. After missing the Lord’s Test to ensure his readiness for action, he returns for his first Test since the tour of Pakistan in December, and his first competitive outing in all cricket since his fiery displays for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL in April.
He steps in for Josh Tongue, who produced a spirited display in his first taste of Ashes cricket at Lord’s, where he finished with five wickets in the match, including Steve Smith and David Warner in both innings.
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Harry Brook, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Ollie Robinson, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Mark Wood
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