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England have maintained flexibility for the initial Ashes match by naming slow bowler Bashir in a 12-man squad alongside five pace bowlers

Mark Wood is declared fit and is expected to participate against Australia in Perth Stadium on the weekend, with the ultimate choice likely involving the young spinner and fast bowler Brydon Carse

Ground Situation

Should England choose an fast bowling unit - four main pacers along with multi-skilled player the captain - it would possibly be the quickest collection of pacemen they have used in an Ashes match in Australia

Recently WA pitch curator the curator commented to expect "speed and bounce" from the surface at the stadium, and it looks possible the English will stick to a established strategy of an exclusively pace attack

But the English team have also observed a dryness to the pitch, placing the off-spinner into consideration

Spinning Options

In the short history of this venue - five prior matches have been hosted here - Australian spin bowler Nathan Lyon is the top wicket-taker with 29 dismissals

The team have favored Bashir, twenty-two, as their main slow bowler for over twelve months and in recent months he achieved the youngest England bowler to attain half-century of wickets in Test matches

However he has not played a official match following claiming the final wicket in a thrilling win over the Indian team in the third Test at the famous ground in July

Current Concerns

Bashir has been suffering from a finger injury and found it difficult in the sole practice game against the development squad, returning match figures of 2 for 151 from 24 overs

It also raises the prospect of him participating in an Test against Australia without being affiliated with a domestic team

His contract at the domestic team ended at the conclusion of the domestic season

Likely Lineup

Nevertheless, an English side featuring Wood, Jofra Archer, Atkinson, leader Stokes and Carse - each of whom are able to achieve high speeds - continues to be the most likely outcome

The initial game commences at 02:20 GMT on the weekend, with live text coverage, specialist radio coverage and in-play highlights accessible

Playing Group

Selected players for initial Ashes match: Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Brook, Ben Stokes (leader), Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Team Background

While a various successful Ashes campaigns at domestically and internationally have been constructed around fast bowling, they have not previously selected as many express pace bowlers in the identical lineup

The lineup that triumphed at in England in the famous series of 2005 contained Steve Harmison, Jones and Flintoff

Illingworth's winning English side to the host nation in that era had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the English side that triumphed in 1954-55 contained Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Current Situation

This time around - among the most highly anticipated Test series in recent years - the English team are looking to reverse an poor history - they have not won a Test match in the host country since 2011

Just five players of the sixteen-player group have experienced a Test in Australia, but the bowler says that could benefit the English team

"This could represent an benefit," he explained to the press

"There have been a lot of players who have said they have had difficult experiences down under

"In our case, we are a quite calm, very positive squad

"No negative experiences

"It's very exciting

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

Australian Preparations

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

The home side are expected to provide an opportunity to opener Weatherald, with yet to debut seamer Brendan Doggett also being included due to injuries to captain Pat Cummins and teammate Hazlewood