‘Abh kya hoga’- Fans react as England make three changes in playing XI ahead of third Ashes Test

England have made three changes for the third Ashes Test at Headingley on Thursday, with Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, and Moeen Ali replacing James Anderson, Josh Tongue, and the injured Ollie Pope. The starting XI was announced before England captain Ben Stokes addressed the media at Headingley, where his team needs to win to start a fightback from their 2-0 deficit following defeats at Edgbaston and Lord’s. They may move Harry Brook to No. 3 for the crucial third Ashes Test.

Anderson’s was the most awaited change that was to be made. He had three wickets at 75.33 in his eleventh Ashes campaign, and after calling the Edgbaston ground to be his “kryptonite,” England’s short-ball strategy at Lord’s also deviated from his preferred swing-bowling techniques. He makes way for Woakes, who hasn’t played a home Test since September 2021 but has 94 wickets at 22.63 in England, making him the apparent like-for-like option.

England selects Mark Woods, Chris Woakes, and Moeen Ali for the third Test

Plus, with the absence of Pope, who has a dislocated right shoulder and will miss the summer, Woakes’ batting brilliance (he averages 35.25 at home, with 155 fifties) is a plus after England deployed an abnormally long tail at Lord’s. Moeen Ali’s comeback adds even more weight to the lower-middle order and is one of the reasons England has decided not to replace Pope with another batter, with Dan Lawrence the only available choice.

Despite his quiet series, Harry Brook has been given Pope’s position at No.3. He’s scored 132 runs at 33 in four innings but has been chastised for a cheap dismissal after reaching his half-century at Lord’s. Wood will offer the pace, making his first Test appearance since the last game of Pakistan’s 3-0 whitewash in December. England planned to play Wood at Lord’s but felt he needed more time to get fully fit.

England’s Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes (capt), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood.

Here’s how fans reacted

He was not being able to perform well since the first test. He complained about the pitch of Edgbaston. But his performance in the second test did not show any such significant improvement. Hopefully, that's the reason behind such a bold move by the management.

— Shirsha Bhattacharyya (@Shirsha_18) July 5, 2023

Anderson era is over

— Vignesh PEREZ OUT❌️ (@ViniciusJrERA) July 5, 2023

Big change to get win Ashes

— Jaikumar S (@Jaiharshan) July 5, 2023

https://twitter.com/Shirsha_18/status/1676536775429476354?s=20

Not Jimmy, Robinson should be dropped

— Amlan Talukdar (@AmlanTalukdar6) July 5, 2023

Josh Tongue took the big wickets in the second test. Wonder why they're dropping him.

— MORPHEUS (@TerriblyDank69) July 5, 2023

Only good thing is they have one batsman extra(Woakes) and England had very poor batting down order. Even Cummins, Starc, Lyon can score 100+. England hardly scores 20+.

— Abiram (@abiram_025) July 5, 2023

Stokes should have done this one after the first test only. Already, he is too late for this decision.

— Shirsha Bhattacharyya (@Shirsha_18) July 5, 2023