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England have kept their options open for the series opener by including spin bowler the young spinner in a squad of twelve alongside five seamers

Mark Wood is declared fit and is expected to participate against Australia in Western Australia on the coming Friday, with the last selection probably involving the young spinner and pace bowler Brydon Carse

Wicket Factors

If England opt for an all-pace attack - four main pacers along with all-rounder the captain - it would potentially be the quickest collection of bowlers they have fielded in an Ashes match in Australia

On Wednesday WA pitch curator Isaac McDonald stated to anticipate "fast and bouncy conditions" from the wicket at Perth Stadium, and it looks possible England will adhere to a traditional approach of an pace-only strategy

However the visitors have also spotted a lack of moisture to the surface, placing Bashir into contention

Slow Bowling Factors

Throughout the limited timeframe of Perth Stadium - five prior matches have been staged here - Australian spin bowler Nathan Lyon is the most successful bowler with 29

The English management have supported the young spinner, 22 years old, as their main slow bowler for more than a year and in May he became the least experienced English bowler to reach fifty wickets in Tests

Yet he has not played a official match since taking the last dismissal in a dramatic victory over India in the third match at Lord's in recently

Current Concerns

The spinner has been suffering from a hand problem and found it difficult in England's only warm-up match against the Lions, recording match figures of 2-151 from twenty-four overs

This creates the possibility of him playing in an Ashes match without being attached to a county

His deal at Somerset concluded at the conclusion of the domestic season

Likely Lineup

However, an English side including Wood, Archer, Atkinson, leader Stokes and Brydon Carse - every one of them are likely to hit 90 miles per hour - stays the most likely outcome

The initial game commences at 02:20 GMT on Friday, with real-time updates, specialist radio coverage and in-play highlights provided

Team Selection

England squad for first Ashes Test: Duckett, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Stokes (captain), Smith (wicketkeeper), Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Mark Wood, Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Historical Context

Even though a various successful Ashes campaigns at in England and overseas have been founded on quick bowling, they have not previously used as numerous fast bowlers in the same team

The lineup that succeeded at home in the celebrated contest of 2005 contained Harmison, Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Illingworth's successful touring team to Australia in that era had Willis, Peter Lever and Snow, and the English side that won in 1954-55 included Brian Statham and Tyson

Present Circumstances

On this occasion - among the most highly anticipated Test series in recent memory - the English team are looking to reverse an poor history - they have been unable to secure a five-day game in Australia since over a decade ago

Only five members of the 16-man squad have played a international Test in the host nation, but the bowler states that could help the visitors

"It could be an benefit," he mentioned to the press

"There have been a numerous athletes who have stated they have had challenging periods down under

"For us, we are a quite calm, extremely confident team

"No negative experiences

"It's exhilarating

"We all see it as a great possibility to create history"

Host Team Situation

The host team's training on this week was momentarily paused by the risk of storms

The home side are probably going to provide an opportunity to batsman Weatherald, with yet to debut seamer Brendan Doggett also coming in due to fitness concerns to captain Cummins and teammate Hazlewood