It’s only been done once before, but former Australian vice-captain Brad Haddin believes England should unleash both Mark Wood and Jofra Archer together in the upcoming Ashes series.

Injuries, form and team balance has ensured the duo have only once played in the same Test match – back in 2020 in England’s loss to the West Indies.

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But with Australian pitches offering plenty for the pace attack, Haddin believes England should come out firing.

“I can see no reason that you wouldn’t play Wood and Archer together in the First Test if they are both fit,” he said on Fox Cricket.

“I don’t know why you’d hold one back for the third (Test) – if I’m England, I’m going as hard as I possibly can in the first two Test matches.

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“We know Perth is going to favour the fast bowlers – then you’ve got the pink ball Test at the Gabba which we know fast bowlers enjoy as well.

“If I’m England and I’ve got those two in the shed, I’m not holding them back. I’m letting them out.

“If they’re both fit … I’m picking both of them (Wood and Archer).”

It would be a big call to play both stars who are working their way back from injury.

Archer missed large chunks of cricket over a four-year period due to right elbow and stress fracture complaints. But he’s managed to get through a host of T20s and one-dayers in recent months.

Wood meantime is aiming to make his return from a year-long lay-off due to a knee injury.

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“If he’s fully fit and able to get a bit of work under his belt then I think he’d be a huge asset for England,” ex-Aussie batsman Mike Hussey said.

“We saw him bowl here in Australia (last Ashes here) – he bowled his heart out, bowled quick.

“But if you’ve been out of the game for a long time, it’s not easy to come back into the Test match cauldron and perform at a high level consistently straight away – and especially in Australia where the pitches are unique.

“You’re charging in in hot conditions – it really does test your fitness and your endurance. I’m sure he’s been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to get his body right, to build up his fitness.

“Now he just needs to get some matches under his belt to build those bowling loads up.”

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Wood has already confirmed he’ll be arriving in Perth earlier than the rest of the squad in a bid to best-prepare himself for the conditions.

But with no actual matches under his belt before the First Test, it could be a big call to back Wood in.

“It won’t be easy for him – in the same breath, for what he can offer the England team you’d give him every opportunity,” Hussey said.

“If he’s under an injury cloud coming into the Test, it would be a risk to play him. You can’t afford to have one of your main bowlers break down in the first innings of a Test match.

“(But) I don’t think too many fast bowlers are ever at 100% – they’ve always got some niggle or are trying to manage something.

“That’s something for him, the captain, the coach and the medical staff to sort through and see how much he can get through and what standard he can get through and then you make a call on it.

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“If he’s at 85 per cent – is that better than what the next guy can give at 95 per cent? They’re the sort of things you have to weigh up.

“Him close to his best offers a fair bit.

“I think initially in my mind, they’ll try and map this out that Wood will play one, Archer will play one then Wood would play the next one and Archer would play the fourth.

“But I don’t know if that’s necessarily how Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes work.

“They are ‘go hard’ – I reckon they might just try to hit Australia with everything they’ve got.”

Archer is one of 11 players in England’s 16-man Ashes squad to never have played a Test in Australia.

But Hussey doesn’t believe that will be a problem come the First Test in late November.

“It can work both ways – sometimes if you’ve got scars about coming to a place, you can carry those on the next time you come,” he said.

Mark Wood celebrates taking the wicket of Australia’s Travis Head in the last Ashes series.Source: AFP

“The extra pace, the extra bounce – we’ve seen players come from all over the world and find it hard in their first one, two, three series here in Australia so it will be a challenge.

“Having said that, quite a few of the players have been here before – whether they’ve been playing in the Big Bash, one-dayers, or T20 World Cup here.”

ENGLAND SQUAD MEMBERS TO NEVER PLAY A TEST IN AUSTRALIA

Archer

Brook

Atkinson

Bashir

Bethell

Carse

Jacks

Potts

Tongue

Smith

Duckett