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The English side has kept their options open for the series opener by selecting spin bowler the young spinner in a twelve-player team alongside five pace bowlers

Wood is declared fit and appears likely to feature facing the hosts in Western Australia on Friday, with the last selection likely coming down to off-spinner Bashir and pace bowler Carse

Ground Situation

If England opt for an all-pace attack - four specialists combined with all-rounder Ben Stokes - it would arguably be the fastest group of seamers they have used in an Ashes Test in Australia

Earlier this week Western Australia wicket preparer McDonald stated to expect "speed and bounce" from the pitch at the venue, and it seems likely the English will follow a traditional approach of an fast bowling focus

Yet the visitors have also observed a dryness to the wicket, putting the spinner into consideration

Spin Considerations

In the short history of Perth Stadium - five previous Tests have been played here - Australian spin bowler the experienced spinner is the leading wicket-taker with twenty-nine

England have supported Shoaib, twenty-two, as their first-choice spinner for since last year and in May he became the least experienced English bowler to reach half-century of wickets in international Tests

However he has not played a competitive game following claiming the concluding scalp in a exciting triumph over India in the third match at the famous ground in recently

Current Concerns

Bashir has been suffering from a hand problem and struggled in England's only warm-up match against the development squad, returning overall statistics of two wickets for 151 runs from 24 overs

This presents the possibility of the spinner participating in an Ashes match without being affiliated with a county

The agreement at the domestic team ended at the finish of the English season

Probable Team

Still, an English side containing Mark Wood, Archer, Atkinson, captain Stokes and Carse - every one of them are likely to hit 90mph - continues to be the probable result

The initial game begins at early morning GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, specialist radio coverage and real-time features provided

Playing Group

Team lineup for initial Ashes match: Ben Duckett, Crawley, Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Stokes (skipper), Jamie Smith (gloveman), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Wood, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Past Experience

While a several successful Ashes campaigns at domestically and internationally have been constructed around fast bowling, they have not previously used as numerous fast bowlers in the identical lineup

The lineup that triumphed at home in the famous series of 2005 included Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff

The captain's winning English side to Australia in those years had Willis, Lever and Snow, and the visiting team that succeeded in those seasons contained Brian Statham and Tyson

Current Situation

On this occasion - one of the most eagerly anticipated Ashes series in modern times - the visitors are aiming to overturn an poor history - they have failed to win a five-day game in Australia since over a decade ago

Just five players of the 16-man squad have participated in a Test in the host nation, but Atkinson says that could benefit the English team

"This could represent an positive," he told the press

"There are a numerous athletes who have said they have had challenging periods here in Australia

"Regarding our team, we are a quite calm, highly optimistic group

"No scarring

"It's very exciting

"The entire team views it as a massive chance to do something special"

Opposition News

The host team's net session on this week was briefly delayed by the risk of storms

The hosts are probably going to provide an opportunity to batsman Weatherald, with new pace bowler Doggett also coming in following fitness concerns to captain Cummins and fellow seamer Hazlewood