England's Josh Tongue, third from right, celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of India's Yashasvi Jaiswal during the third day of the fifth cricket test match between England and India at The Kia Oval in London, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)Former England skipper Nasser Hussain said that England will need tough cricketers in their squad when they travel to Australia in November to take on the hosts in the Ashes 2025 series. He said that he needed cricketers in the team who wouldn’t back down from any situation because when you go Down Under, you are playing against a whole country.
“I do think you need tough cricketers. And I mean people who would stand up out there. When you go out there, you are not taking on 11 Australian cricketers, you are taking on a nation. You’ll get out there and the media will be on you. Within a week of landing, they will say ‘is this the worst England side ever to come?’ which was probably true in our case. Can’t bowl, can’t bat, can’t field. The headline will come out “Stuart Broad is a….something bloke,” Hussain said on Sky Sports Cricket.
“So, you are taking on them, you are taking on the public. If you look historically, the characters, not just cricketers who have done well against Australia- Darren Gough stood up to every one, Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Broad. People that would not back down in a battle because that is what the Ashes is. It is a battle for however many long, however many days and you have to be out for the fight.
"People that will not back down in a battle" 😤
Nasser Hussain says England need 'tough cricketers' in their squad to travel to Australia for the Ashes 👊 pic.twitter.com/1dDhyaLsuh
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 3, 2025
The Ashes 2025-26 between Australia and England will begin in November, and Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said a few days ago that he is hoping to go past the 837,879 gross fans footfall during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The BGT was the highest attended Test campaign in Australian history outside of the Ashes and the record stands at 946,750, which was set during the 1936-37 Ashes when Sir Donald Bradman was in his pomp.
The opening day tickets for the five Ashes Tests across Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney are now sold out, as per CA’s estimate. Meanwhile, ticket allocations for first, second and third days at the Gabba, Adelaide Oval and SCG have also been exhausted.
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