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England have kept their options open for the series opener by naming off-spinner Bashir in a squad of twelve together with five fast bowlers

Mark Wood has been passed fit and appears likely to feature facing the hosts in Perth Stadium on the coming Friday, with the last selection likely involving the young spinner and pace bowler Brydon Carse

Pitch Conditions

Should England choose an fast bowling unit - four specialists along with multi-skilled player the captain - it would possibly be the most rapid assembly of seamers they have fielded in an Test against Australia in the host nation

Recently WA pitch curator the curator said to expect "fast and bouncy conditions" from the wicket at the venue, and it looks possible the English will stick to a traditional approach of an pace-only strategy

However the tourists have also observed a arid quality to the pitch, putting the spinner into contention

Spinning Options

During the brief existence of Perth Stadium - five prior matches have been hosted here - Australian off-spinner Lyon is the top wicket-taker with twenty-nine

England have backed Shoaib, 22 years old, as their primary spin option for over twelve months and in spring he became the youngest England bowler to attain half-century of wickets in Test matches

But he has not played a first-class game since taking the final wicket in a dramatic victory over India in the third match at the famous ground in recently

Current Concerns

The spinner has been suffering from a hand problem and had challenges in the sole practice game against the development squad, recording overall statistics of 2-151 from his bowling spell

This presents the possibility of him participating in an Ashes match without being contracted with a county

The agreement at Somerset concluded at the end of the home summer

Expected Selection

Still, an visiting team containing Mark Wood, Archer, Atkinson, leader Ben Stokes and Carse - all of whom are able to achieve 90 miles per hour - stays the probable result

The initial game starts at 02:20 GMT on Friday, with live text coverage, specialist radio coverage and live action clips available

Playing Group

Team lineup for first Ashes Test: Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Stokes (skipper), Jamie Smith (gloveman), Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Wood, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Historical Context

Although a number of English Ashes victories at domestically and internationally have been founded on quick bowling, they have not previously used as many express pace bowlers in the identical lineup

The team that succeeded at domestically in the celebrated contest of 2005 Ashes featured Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Flintoff

Illingworth's winning English side to Australia in those years had Bob Willis, Lever and Snow, and the visiting team that won in 1954-55 featured Brian Statham and Tyson

Current Situation

In this instance - potentially the most exciting Ashes series in recent memory - England are looking to change an difficult past - they have not won a five-day game in Australia since over a decade ago

Just five players of the 16-man squad have played a international Test in Australia, but Atkinson states that could help the visitors

"This could represent an positive," he told media outlets

"We've seen a many cricketers who have mentioned they have had challenging periods down under

"Regarding our team, we are a very relaxed, very positive squad

"No bad memories

"It's very exciting

"Everyone considers it a huge opportunity to do something special"

Host Team Situation

The host team's training on Wednesday was momentarily paused by the possibility of bad weather

Australia are probably going to hand a first cap to batsman Jack Weatherald, with yet to debut seamer Brendan Doggett also coming in due to fitness concerns to captain Pat Cummins and colleague Hazlewood