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Next Test South Africa (A)
ICC World Test Championship - Thu 17 Dec, 08:00 Their lineups Preview

England Playing XI: Predicted Lineup and Batting Order

England v South Africa, Thu 17 Dec, 08:00: the last XI stands until the toss confirms one

Updated 9 September 2026, after the Pakistan game

Match lineups →
1 Ben Duckett Keeper, batted 1 11 16 balls 2 E Emilio Gay Batter, batted 2 60 118 balls 3 Jordan Cox Keeper, batted 3 63 82 balls 4 Joe Root Batter, batted 4 70 87 balls 5 Harry Brook Batter, batted 5 75 97 balls 6 Daniel Lawrence All-rounder, batted 6 65 82 balls 7 Jamie Smith Keeper, batted 7 69 84 balls 8 Gus Atkinson All-rounder, batted 8 19 36 balls 9 Ollie Edward Robinson All-rounder, batted 9 50 47 balls 10 Jofra Archer Bowler, batted 10 32* 27 balls 11 Josh Tongue Bowler, batted 11 15 20 balls 12 T Theo Wylie Batter Did not bat
Last Test: England won by 8 wickets, 9 Sep 2026. The scorecard →

England Batting Order

Who batted where over the last 20 Tests, and the runs there

PositionInnsAvgSRAlso
1Zak Crawley 14 52.8 64.5 B. Duckett (6)
2Ben Duckett 14 70.3 87.2 E. Gay (6)
3Ollie Pope 9 66.9 68.6 J. Bethell (8), J. Cox (3)
4Joe Root 20 76.2 61.5 -
5Harry Brook 20 84.0 84.8 -
6Ben Stokes 10 49.7 45.3 O. Pope (3), D. Lawrence (3)
7Jamie Smith 14 62.4 75.9 B. Stokes (5), J. Cox (1)
8Gus Atkinson 7 31.3 54.6 C. Woakes (5), W. Jacks (4)
9Brydon Carse 7 30.1 69.0 G. Atkinson (5), O. Edward Robinson (4)
10Jofra Archer 6 34.8 58.4 J. Tongue (6), B. Carse (5)
11Shoaib Bashir 8 9.5 41.8 J. Tongue (6), J. Archer (2)
Inns is how often each batted there. A player who did not bat is left out.

England Selections

Every player England picked in the last 20 Tests, the most first

PlayerXIBatsLast
Ben Duckett 20/20 2 XI
Joe Root 20/20 4 XI
Harry Brook 20/20 5 XI
Jamie Smith 16/20 7 XI
Ben Stokes 15/20 6 -
Zak Crawley 14/20 1 -
Ollie Pope 13/20 3 -
Gus Atkinson 13/20 8 XI
Josh Tongue 13/20 11 XI
Brydon Carse 12/20 9 -
Jofra Archer 10/20 10 XI
Jacob Bethell 9/20 3 -
Shoaib Bashir 9/20 11 -
Chris Woakes 7/20 8 -
Emilio Gay 6/20 2 XI
Jordan Cox 4/20 3 XI
Will Jacks 4/20 8 -
Ollie Edward Robinson 4/20 9 XI
Daniel Lawrence 3/20 6 XI
Matty Potts 2/20 10 -
Samuel Cook 2/20 - -
James Rew 1/20 6 -
Jamie Overton 1/20 8 -
Liam Dawson 1/20 8 -
Matthew Fisher 1/20 9 -
Sonny Baker 1/20 11 -
Mark Wood 1/20 11 -
Theo Wylie 1/20 - XI
Rehan Ahmed 1/20 - -

England Test Lineups Questions

What is England's predicted XI against South Africa?

Until the toss, England's last XI stands as the predicted one, from 9 Sep 2026 against Pakistan: Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Jordan Cox, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Daniel Lawrence, Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson, Ollie Edward Robinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Theo Wylie.

Who opens the batting for England?

Over the last 20 Tests, Zak Crawley batted at one 14 times and Ben Duckett at two 14 times.

Who bats at three for England?

Ollie Pope, 9 times in the last 20 Tests, then Jacob Bethell (8).

Who has played every Test for England recently?

Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook played all of England's last 20 Tests.