The Ashes 2023: what’s England batting line-up? Roles of Ben Stokes and Joe Root as England chase Australia

It’s the second Test match of the England vs Australia 2023 Ashes series and England are one defeat down after an epic fixture saw Pat Cummins seal the winning runs in Edgbaston in June.

Lord’s is arguably the most iconic ground in the world with all cricketers desperate to feature on the prestigious honours board. Australia’s Steve Smith bounced back from a disappointing first Test match to secure his first century of the series and will now see his name appear on the iconic board in the Pavilion.

England, however, have struggled with such luck as Ben Duckett suffered heartbreak, getting caught on 98. The opener was just two runs away from his first ever Ashes Test century and what would have been his third century of his England career. His fellow opener, Zak Crawley, similarly struggled to reach the landmarks as he was stumped on 48.

The biggest news that came from the second day, however, was Nathan Lyon limping off the pitch. Australia’s key bowler has now been ruled out for the rest of the match and could well be out for the remainder of the series after it was confirmed he suffered a severe calf strain.

While Australia will desperately seek options to replace their main spinner, here is who leads the England batting line-up.

What is England’s batting line-up?

England’s batting line-up has remained largely unchanged since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes teamed up. The squad has a plethora of bowling options but The Ashes squad will most likely see the same top seven batters take to the pitch each match.

Here is the full squad Stokes and McCullum named for the first two Ashes Test matches:

Ben Stokes (C), Moeen Ali*, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.

One change was made from the first Test as Moeen Ali was replaced by Josh Tongue. Ali suffered blistering in his Test return and as his availability for the second fixture was likely to be uncertain, Rehan Ahmed was brought into the side and has featured as a sub fielder.

Here is the batting line-up for the Lord’s Test match and their Test averages:

1. Zak Crawley - 23.75
2. Ben Duckett - 46.45
3. Ollie Pope - 34.96
4. Joe Root - 50/57
5. Harry Brook - 72.76
6. Ben Stokes - 35.63
7. Jonny Bairstow (wk) - 37.05
8. Stuart Broad - 18.29
9. Ollie Robinson - 13.84
10. Josh Tongue - (N/A)
11. James Anderson - 9.19

Dan Lawrence (29.00) is the only replacement batter in the squad while they have Wood, Woakes and Potts as potential seamers to come in as well as Ahmed.

How to watch The Ashes 2023

Sky Sports will have all the action from the pitch. The match will be shown on both Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket with coverage starting at 9.30am and a countdown programme beginning at 8am ahead of the 11am scheduled start time. BBC will then have a highlights show on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer at 7pm every evening of play.

The second Test will conclude on Sunday 2 July and the third Test will then take place at Headingley from Thursday 6 July to Monday 10 July.