Australia vs England The Ashes 2nd Test Tips - Aussies to go 2-0 up with pink-ball supremacy

Adam Cusworth

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Last updated: Tue 02 Dec 2025 09:02

Adam Cusworth 02 Dec 2025

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Brisbane plays host to the 2nd Test of the five-match Ashes series between Australia and England
Pink ball will be used at the GABBA under the day-night format
First ball is at 3:00PM AEDT, Thursday December 4.
Australia lead the five-match series 5-0

Expired

Mitchell Starc was Man of the Match in the 1st Test and looms as match winner again (Getty Images)

Australia vs England- The Ashes 2nd Test Preview

Australia vs England- The Ashes 2nd Test Preview
Head to Head
Australia Form & Team News
Australia Squad
England Form & Team News
Australia squad
England Squad

The Ashes caravan rolls into Brisbane and the Aussies will pile more pain on England with a win under the pink-ball, day-night conditions of the GABBA in Brisbane.

Australia enter full of confidence after their eight-wicket win inside two days at Perth and a victory here will make it very difficult for England to win the Ashes, with the scoreline to advance to 2-0 with three to play.

The pink-ball format and venue plays directly into Australia’s strengths. They have won 12 of their 13 home day-night Tests, and boast the two greatest pink-ball performers on the planet: Mitchell Starc, the most prolific bowler in the format’s history with 81 wickets at 17.08, and Marnus Labuschagne, the world’s leading pink-ball run scorer with 958 runs at 63.86.

England, by contrast, have lost all three of their day-night Tests in Australia and enter Brisbane with several squad members yet to experience a pink Ball Ashes Test at all. Under lights at the Gabba, that gulf in familiarity matters.

Tactically, Australia win this Test through discipline: controlling the new ball in daylight, maximising the twilight swing window with Starc, exploiting England’s aggressive tendencies with Boland’s heavy length, and allowing Lyon to attack when batters retreat into survival mode. Across five days, their structure, experience and familiarity with night cricket make them extremely difficult to beat.

It will be interesting to see whether England abandon the one-dimensional short-ball plan that came unstuck against Travis Head. They will need to rediscover the lengths that trouble Australia at home: fourth-stump channels, heavy seam presentation and the patience to build spells in phases rather than bursts.

Without Wood’s speed and without pink-ball nous, their margin for error shrinks dramatically. On the batting side of the equation, will they go full Bazball, or play to the occasion? Something they didn't do at Perth when in a commanding position in their second innings before being skittled.

But whataver way you look at this, an England win does seem a monumental task at a venue where they have seldom been competitive.

The pink-ball lottery narrative favours the side who can control conditions, not react to them. Australia have mastered that art. England have not. Australia will go 2-0 up.

Australia will win, take them in the head to head betting and for player props, Starc and Labuschagne will be effective with bat and ball. For English fans, Joe Root can overcome his relatively poor record in Australia by digging in. While he is yet to score a ton down-under, he averages 38 in day-night Tests and is the only batter in the lineup with a proven method for absorbing twilight periods

Head to Head

England’s struggles in Australia aren’t a recent trend — they are a generational problem. Their last Test victory on Australian soil came in January 2011, and since then Australia have dominated every home Ashes series. The scorelines tell the story with brutal clarity: 5-0 in 2013/14, 4-0 in 2017/18, and 4-0 again in 2021/22, before taking a 1-0 lead in the current series.

Across those three completed Ashes tours, England have managed just two draws and have not once entered a live Test in Australia with series parity.

Brisbane has been an even harsher mirror. England have failed to win at the Gabba since 1986/87, nearly 40 years ago, and the results since then have ranged from heavy to humiliating. They suffered a 9-wicket defeat in 2021, a 10-wicket defeat in 2017, a 381-run demolition in 2013, and further heavy losses in 2006, 2002, 1994 and 1990, with a weather preserving draw in 1998 and stalemate on a flat pitch in 2010.

Their day-night record adds another layer of difficulty. England have lost all three day-night Tests they have played in Australia — the 2017 Adelaide Test, and both pink-ball encounters in 2021. Several squad members have never played a pink-ball Test, while those who have often struggled to handle the altered seam visibility, twilight movement and skidding bounce. Meanwhile, Australia have turned the format into a tactical weapon: they’ve played more day-night Tests than any nation and have won 12 of 13.

Australia Form & Team News

Australia enter the second Test on a powerful run of results. They’ve now won seven Tests in a row, swept the West Indies 3-0 earlier this year, and reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-1 last summer. Since the 2023 Ashes, they are unbeaten in four straight series and have consistently dominated at home regardless of changes to personnel. Their bowlers average under 24 in Australian conditions in that period, while their top seven have produced centuries in seven of their last 10 home Tests.

Mitchell Starc is in vintage form. His match figures of 10-113 in Perth represented his third career 10-wicket match haul, and he enters Brisbane as a historically unmatched pink-ball force, averaging 17.08 from 27 innings under lights.

His record at the Gabba is equally imposing, with 27 wickets at 21. His ability to take wickets in the first over of an innings — now a staggering 25 times in Test cricket — makes him Australia’s primary weapon in the twilight bursts that often decide day-night matches.

Scott Boland continues to be Australia’s metronome. His spell of 4-33 in Perth broke the Test open, and Brisbane’s harder surface magnifies his strengths: high bounce, precision in short-of-a-length channels, and the ability to beat batters both off the seam and in the air without overpitching. Brendan Doggett, coming off a composed debut with match figures of 5-78, returns to the ground where he has taken over 80 first-class wickets, making him a tailor-made inclusion for the Gabba’s bounce and carry.

Marnus Labuschagne’s reawakening looms as one of the most significant storylines of the series. After being dropped earlier in the year, he returned home and peeled off five domestic centuries before contributing a run-a-ball 51* in the first Test.

Travis Head’s century in Perth was one of the great fourth-innings innings of the modern era, and his form at the Gabba is exceptional, with a strike rate approaching 80 in home Tests at the venue.

Usman Khawaja’s back spasms remain the only cloud, but the Queensland veteran averages 59.37 at the Gabba in Sheffield Shield cricket. He is confident of pulling up well, and Australia have retained an unchanged squad while Pat Cummins edges closer to returning in Adelaide.

Australia Squad

Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

England Form & Team News

England arrive in Brisbane searching for both method and clarity after a chaotic two-day defeat in Perth. Their record since the home Ashes in 2023 has been inconsistent and include a 2-2 series against India in English conditions. Since the start of 2024, England are 5 wins, 6 losses and 3 draws in Test cricket, and have struggled to adapt Bazball to conditions where lateral movement and sustained pressure punish high-risk options.

Their attack looked menacing on day one in Perth but lost potency rapidly. After bowling at 145–150 km/h early, the combined pace of Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson dropped below 130 km/h on day two, and their short-ball strategy unravelled when depth of field and stamina faded. The tactical stubbornness — a barrage of bouncers at diminishing pace — played directly into Australia’s hands, allowing Travis Head to dictate terms. Ben Stokes and Joe Root were both removed cheaply twice, and England were bowled out twice in a single day for the second time in two years in Australia.

The injury to Mark Wood is a major strategic setback. Wood was England’s leading wicket-taker on their 2021/22 Ashes tour, and his ability to maintain 150 km/h spells is central to England’s identity. His absence removes their most intimidating point of difference, particularly under lights where raw speed is critical. Josh Tongue and Matthew Potts are the leading replacements; both have the accuracy to compete but lack the high-end velocity to replicate Wood’s impact. England’s pink-ball inexperience is a significant concern, with several squad members never having played a day-night Test.

Outside of Joe Roor, Harry Brook stands out as the player capable of producing a counterattacking innings that bends momentum. Brook averaged over 50 in the 2023 Ashes and has scored heavily when England have been under early pressure.

Australia squad

England Squad

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood