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England have maintained flexibility for the initial Ashes match by naming slow bowler Shoaib Bashir in a twelve-player team alongside five fast bowlers

Mark Wood has recovered and is expected to participate facing the hosts in Perth on the coming Friday, with the last selection possibly involving the young spinner and seamer Brydon Carse

Ground Situation

If England opt for an pace-only bowling lineup - four specialists plus all-rounder the captain - it would possibly be the quickest collection of bowlers they have used in an Test against Australia in the host nation

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

Yet the visitors have also noted a dryness to the wicket, bringing the spinner into consideration

Spin Considerations

In the short history of Perth Stadium - five earlier Tests have been hosted here - Australian spin bowler Lyon is the top wicket-taker with twenty-nine

The team have backed the young spinner, 22 years old, as their main slow bowler for since last year and in spring he achieved the least experienced English bowler to attain half-century of wickets in Test matches

But he has not played a official match since claiming the concluding scalp in a thrilling win over India in the third match at the famous ground in recently

Current Concerns

Bashir has been out with a finger injury and found it difficult in England's only warm-up match against the Lions, posting match figures of 2 for 151 from his bowling spell

It also raises the possibility of him participating in an Ashes match without being affiliated with a county

His contract at Somerset concluded at the conclusion of the domestic season

Probable Team

Still, an England team including Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, skipper Stokes and Brydon Carse - each of whom are able to achieve high speeds - continues to be the expected conclusion

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

Team Selection

Team lineup for first Ashes Test: Ben Duckett, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Smith (wk), Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Historical Context

Even though a number of English Ashes victories at home and abroad have been built on pace, they have not previously used as multiple quick bowlers in the same team

The side that triumphed at in England in the celebrated contest of that year contained Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Raymond Illingworth's winning English side to the host nation in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and Snow, and the English side that won in 1954-55 included Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Present Circumstances

In this instance - among the most highly anticipated England-Australia contests in modern times - the English team are aiming to overturn an awful record - they have failed to win a Test match in Australia since 2011

Just five players of the sixteen-player group have experienced a Test match in Australia, but Atkinson says that could help the visitors

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

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

"Regarding our team, we are a quite calm, extremely confident group

"No scarring

"It's thrilling

"Everyone considers it a massive chance to achieve something remarkable"

Australian Preparations

Australia's training on recently was briefly delayed by the risk of storms

The home side are probably going to hand a first cap to batsman Jack Weatherald, with yet to debut seamer Brendan Doggett also being included after fitness concerns to skipper Cummins and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood