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The English side has maintained flexibility for the series opener by selecting slow bowler Shoaib Bashir in a squad of twelve alongside five fast bowlers

Mark Wood has recovered and appears likely to feature facing the hosts in Perth on Friday, with the ultimate choice probably coming down to the young spinner and pace bowler the seamer

Wicket Factors

Should England choose an pace-only bowling lineup - four dedicated bowlers plus all-rounder the captain - it would possibly be the fastest group of bowlers they have fielded in an Ashes Test in Australia

On Wednesday Western Australia wicket preparer McDonald stated to anticipate "fast and bouncy conditions" from the surface at Perth Stadium, and it seems likely England will adhere to a established strategy of an exclusively pace attack

But the visitors have also spotted a dryness to the pitch, bringing the spinner into the running

Spin Considerations

During the brief existence of this venue - five prior matches have been hosted here - Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon is the top wicket-taker with 29

England have favored Bashir, 22 years old, as their first-choice spinner for more than a year and in recent months he became the least experienced English bowler to achieve half-century of wickets in Test matches

However he has missed a official match after taking the last dismissal in a exciting triumph over India in the final Test at Lord's in July

Recent Challenges

Bashir has been suffering from a finger injury and struggled in England's only warm-up match against England Lions, returning overall statistics of two wickets for 151 runs from 24 overs

This presents the scenario of him competing in an Test against Australia without being contracted with a county

The agreement at the domestic team ended at the end of the home summer

Probable Team

However, an visiting team containing Wood, Archer, Gus Atkinson, captain Ben Stokes and Carse - every one of them are able to achieve 90 miles per hour - stays the most likely outcome

The initial game starts at 02:20 GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, specialist radio coverage and real-time features available

Playing Group

Team lineup for first Ashes Test: Duckett, Crawley, Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (skipper), Smith (wicketkeeper), Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Wood, Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Historical Context

Although a various successful Ashes campaigns at in England and overseas have been constructed around fast bowling, they have never fielded as many express pace bowlers in the equivalent side

The lineup that triumphed at domestically in the celebrated contest of 2005 Ashes featured Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff

The captain's successful touring team to the host nation in that era had Bob Willis, Lever and John Snow, and the English side that won in those seasons included Brian Statham and Tyson

Present Circumstances

In this instance - potentially the most exciting England-Australia contests in recent memory - England are aiming to change an poor history - they have not won a Test match in Australia since that year

Just five players of the sixteen-player group have experienced a Test in the host nation, but the bowler comments that could work in England's favour

"This might be an benefit," he explained to media outlets

"There are a many cricketers who have stated they have had difficult experiences here in Australia

"For us, we are a extremely composed, very positive group

"No bad memories

"It's very exciting

"The entire team views it as a huge opportunity to create history"

Host Team Situation

Australia's practice session on Wednesday was briefly delayed by the risk of storms

The hosts are probably going to give a debut to batsman Weatherald, with yet to debut pace bowler Brendan Doggett also being included after health issues to captain Cummins and colleague Josh Hazlewood