England Name Shoaib Bashir in Squad for The Ashes series Opener

The English side has left decisions open for the series opener by selecting spin bowler Bashir in a squad of twelve alongside five seamers

Wood has recovered and is expected to participate against Australia in Perth on the coming Friday, with the ultimate choice possibly involving the young spinner and fast bowler Brydon Carse

Ground Situation

Should England choose an all-pace attack - four main pacers along with all-rounder Ben Stokes - it would potentially be the quickest collection of bowlers they have deployed in an Ashes match in the host nation

On Wednesday local pitch curator Isaac McDonald stated to expect "fast and bouncy conditions" from the surface at Perth Stadium, and it seems likely the tourists will stick to a traditional approach of an fast bowling focus

Yet the tourists have also spotted a arid quality to the pitch, bringing the spinner into the running

Spinning Options

In the short history of this venue - five earlier Tests have been played here - Australian off-spinner Lyon is the most successful bowler with 29

The team have favored Bashir, twenty-two, as their primary spin option for over twelve months and in recent months he achieved the most youthful English bowler to achieve fifty wickets in international Tests

Yet he has not played a first-class game following securing the concluding scalp in a thrilling win over India in the third Test at the famous ground in recently

Recent Challenges

Bashir has been recovering from a broken finger and found it difficult in the single preparation match against the Lions, recording match figures of 2-151 from his bowling spell

This creates the possibility of Bashir competing in an Test against Australia without being affiliated with a domestic team

His contract at the domestic team concluded at the end of the home summer

Probable Team

Still, an England team containing Wood, Archer, Gus Atkinson, leader Stokes and Brydon Carse - every one of them are able to achieve high speeds - stays the most likely outcome

The first Test starts at 2:20 AM GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, expert analysis and in-play highlights available

Team Selection

England squad for first Ashes Test: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (skipper), Jamie Smith (gloveman), Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Team Background

Although a several England Ashes triumphs at in England and overseas 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 home in the celebrated contest of 2005 Ashes contained Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Flintoff

The captain's triumphant visitors to the host nation in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the English side that won in those seasons included Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Modern Context

This time around - among the most highly anticipated England-Australia contests in modern times - the English team are hoping to overturn an poor history - they have failed to win a Test match in the host country since 2011

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

"This might be an advantage," he told reporters

"There are a numerous athletes who have mentioned they have had challenging periods in this country

"In our case, we are a very relaxed, very positive team

"No negative experiences

"It's very exciting

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

Opposition News

The host team's practice session on recently was briefly delayed by the possibility of bad weather

The home side are probably going to give a debut to batsman Weatherald, with uncapped fast bowler Brendan Doggett also joining following fitness concerns to captain Pat Cummins and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood