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The tourists have kept their options open for the initial Ashes match by selecting spin bowler Bashir in a twelve-player team alongside five seamers

Mark Wood is declared fit and appears likely to feature against Australia in Perth on the coming Friday, with the last selection probably involving the young spinner and seamer Carse

Pitch Conditions

Should England choose an pace-only bowling lineup - four main pacers along with multi-skilled player Stokes - it would arguably be the fastest group of seamers they have deployed in an Ashes Test in Australia

On Wednesday WA groundsman McDonald said to anticipate "fast and bouncy conditions" from the wicket at Perth Stadium, and it seems likely the English will adhere to a established strategy of an fast bowling focus

Yet the tourists have also observed a dryness to the pitch, putting Bashir into consideration

Slow Bowling Factors

In the short history of the ground - five prior matches have been hosted here - Australian spin bowler Lyon is the most successful bowler with twenty-nine

The team have backed Shoaib, twenty-two, as their first-choice spinner for more than a year and in May he was recognized as the most youthful English bowler to achieve 50 wickets in international Tests

But he has not played a official match since securing the concluding scalp in a thrilling win over India in the final Test at Lord's in recently

Recent Issues

The spinner has been suffering from a broken finger and struggled in the sole practice game against the development squad, posting overall statistics of two wickets for 151 runs from 24 overs

This creates the possibility of Bashir participating in an Ashes match without being attached to a domestic team

His deal at his county ended at the conclusion of the domestic season

Likely Lineup

Still, an English side including Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Atkinson, leader Ben Stokes and Carse - each of whom are capable of reaching 90 miles per hour - continues to be the expected conclusion

The first Test starts at 2:20 AM GMT on the weekend, with live text coverage, Test Match Special commentary and real-time features available

Team Selection

Selected players for first Ashes Test: Duckett, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (skipper), Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Wood, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Team Background

While a several successful Ashes campaigns at domestically and internationally have been constructed around fast bowling, they have not previously used as multiple quick bowlers in the equivalent side

The team that succeeded at home in the famous series of 2005 featured Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Flintoff

The captain's successful touring team to Australia in those years had Willis, Lever and Snow, and the English side that triumphed in those seasons contained Statham and Tyson

Present Circumstances

This time around - potentially the most exciting Ashes series in modern times - England are hoping to reverse an poor history - they have failed to win a Test in the host country since that year

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

"It could be an positive," he mentioned to media outlets

"We've seen a lot of players who have said they have had difficult experiences here in Australia

"In our case, we are a very relaxed, extremely confident team

"No scarring

"It's exhilarating

"The entire team views it as a great possibility to do something special"

Host Team Situation

Australia's training on Wednesday was briefly delayed by the possibility of bad weather

Australia are expected to give a debut to batsman Jack Weatherald, with uncapped fast bowler Brendan Doggett also coming in following health issues to captain Pat Cummins and colleague Hazlewood