The 2025-26 Ashes are over. But that won’t mean that the Boxing Day Test won’t have any meaning. For Australia, World Test Championship (WTC) points are on the line. 3-0 won’t satisfy them. However, England has much to gain. They won’t recover from a series of defeats, but jobs and spots in the team are on the line.
Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum, and Rob Key will face scrutiny. While not all of them will go, some of them might just cling on if they win at least one Test. Ollie Pope has already been dropped, but others like Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Jamie Smith might be playing for their spots.
Ashes 4th Test: Match Details
- Date: December 26-30
- Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
- Toss Timing: 4:30 AM IST
- Match Timing: 5:00 AM IST
Ashes 4th Test – Live Streaming and Where to Watch on TV?
Watch the live stream exclusively on JioStar. On TV, please tune into Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD.
Injury Updates
England has suffered a major blow. They have lost Jofra Archer for the remainder of the series. He has suffered a left-side strain and will fly back to England next week. But Australia has been hit even harder.
Josh Hazlewood was already ruled out of the entire series, and now it’s likely that Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon won’t play the last 2 Tests either. Cummins was brought in to seal the series, but he was visibly struggling in Adelaide and might have risked sitting out for a few more months. Lyon suffered a hamstring injury and won’t play in Melbourne.
Australia vs England Test head-to-head
| Matches Played | Won (Australia) | Won (England) | Drawn |
|---|---|---|---|
| 364 | 155 | 112 | 97 |
Ashes 4th Test: Playing XI & squad
England Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue
Australia Squad: Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith (c), Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Brendan Doggett
