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The highly-anticipated five-match Ashes 2025-26 series is scheduled to commence from Friday, November 21 in Perth. While the Australian side will be coming into the series after injuries have ruled out two of their veteran pacers in Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, the England too is slightly struggling with fitness concerns to skipper Ben Stokes and Mark Wood.
Just days prior to the opening game in Perth, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Wednesday, November 19 announced their 12-member squad for the opening match, which boasts of a pace-heavy line-up. Hoowever, their counterpart are still mulling on the combination as they train hard in the nets at the Optus Stadium. While all players have been toiling hard, the Aussie camp was forced to make their way back into the dugout after lightning in a close by area.
Lightning halts Australia’s training session ahead of first Test in Perth
On Wednesday, Australia’s final preparations were halted after lightning struck near the venue. The suspension came despite bright sunny conditions, leaving the players as well as members of the support staff baffled. While the players underwent 40 minutes of fielding drills, bowlers had just begun their practice when the officials intervened and directed everyone to take a shed indoors.
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Twitter embed code geThis is not the first time such an incident has occurred as during India’s T20I series down under recently, one of the game saw officials direct players indoors due to bright lightning. However, the weather was clear, it has to be seen if England will take the field for training as they are scheduled to practise in the afternoon hours.
Australia's squad for first Ashes Test:
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
