England Men's Cricket Team

Stephan Shemilt
Chief Cricket Reporter at Perth Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Will Jacks, Jacob Bethell and Matthew Potts have left England's squad on day two of the first Ashes Test to join England Lions' game against a Cricket Australia XI at Lilac Hill.

The trio were left out of the XI for the series opener and have been added to a Lions' game that began on Friday.

Somerset wicketkeeper James Rew, who was in the England squad for the Test against Zimbabwe in May, has moved in the opposite direction to provide fielding cover at Perth Stadium.

Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir and pace bowler Josh Tongue, also left out of the England team for the first Test, have remained with the Ashes squad.

England do not play between the first Test here and second Test in Brisbane, with a Lions team travelling to Canberra to play a two-day pink-ball match against the Prime Minister's XI.

Follow every moment of the Ashes with our rolling page of news, views and updates.

Image source, Getty Images

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak says he is "fully drinking the Kool-Aid" that England will win the Ashes after day one of the first Test in Perth.

Nineteen wickets fell on an extraordinary opening day as Australia closed on 123-9 in response to England's 172 all out.

Sunak, a keen cricketer and fan, said he had been following from 05:30 GMT which was "not the greatest start to the day".

"Throughout the day it got progressively better," Sunak told the Matt Chorley show on BBC Radio 5 Live.

"What an up and down day.

"If we don't win this Test it is going to be a struggle for us. Our bowlers have been amazing. What an extraordinary day."

Ben Stokes' England are trying to win the Ashes in Australia for the first time since 2010-11 and the first time home or away since 2015.

"Going into this I felt the Aussies were still favourites but this is probably their weakest side since 2010 and our best," Sunak said.

"I am fully drinking the Kool-Aid that we will bring it home, especially for this Test because they are missing two of their incredible bowlers [Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood]."

Image source, Getty Images

England's fast bowlers were told to run in and "smash the wicket hard" by captain Ben Stokes on an enthralling opening day of the first Ashes Test in Perth.

England's tail collapsed from 160-6 to 172 all out before their bowlers turned the tables - Australia closing on 123-9, 49 runs behind the tourists.

Carse and Jofra Archer took two wickets each before Ben Stokes picked up 5-23 in an hostile and sustained spell of fast bowling.

"Stokesy (captain Ben Stokes) kept it really simple and just told the bowlers to give everything," Carse said of how they approached the Australian innings.

"He said: 'Let's smash the wicket hard and see how much we can get out of the wicket.' "I thought the way Gus Atkinson and Jofra (Archer) started was phenomenal.

"Then I thought we carried that into the afternoon session and we were quite relentless through the evening and Ben rotated us well.

"We bounce off each other and we all have different attributes and complement each other well. It's a good start and we're never going to shy away from that relentlessness."