Hyderabad: England have named their playing XI for their opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 against Australia in Lahore on Saturday, February 20.
Jamie Smith returns to the side, batting at No.3 and taking the gloves as wicketkeeper. Jofra Archer is selected alongside fellow seamers Brydon Carse and Mark Wood.
We've named our XI for the first game against Australia 👇
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 20, 2025
The Jos Buttler-led side faced an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to India a couple of weeks earlier and will be aiming to produce a better performance in the Champions Trophy.
Captain Jos Buttler will be under immense pressure after his side failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup semi-final and T20 World Cup final. Notably, England are yet to win a Champions Trophy tournament.
However, the team management handed him an extended run and the Champions Trophy could possibly be the last chance for Buttler to prove his worth as the leader, who has led the Three Lions to the T20 World Cup 2022 triumph. Brendon McCullum, who had a fantastic run as Test coach, has been handed the baton in the white-ball format after the success England achieved in the Test format.
Leading up to the series since the 2023 ODI World Cup, England's ODI form has been mostly average at best, with few glimpses of brilliance that led them to simultaneous world championship glory in ODIs and T20Is. Under their new head coach McCullum, they have failed to unleash his 'Bazball' school of cricket badly during the white-ball series against India.
After the 2023 50-over World Cup, England participated in four ODI series, out of which they have failed to win any. Since the 2023 World Cup end, England has played in 14 ODIs, out of which they have won just four. Their series records are: 1-2 loss to West Indies (away from home), a 2-3 loss to Australia (at home), 1-2 loss to West Indies (away from home) and a 3-0 loss to India (away from home).
England Playing XI:
1. Phil Salt
2. Ben Duckett
3. Jamie Smith (WK)
4. Joe Root
5. Harry Brook
6. Jos Buttler (C)
7. Liam Livingstone
8. Brydon Carse
9. Jofra Archer
10. Adil Rashid
11. Mark Wood
