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England have maintained flexibility for the initial Ashes match by naming spin bowler the young spinner in a twelve-player team alongside five seamers

Wood has recovered and appears likely to feature facing the hosts in Perth Stadium on the coming Friday, with the final decision probably involving the young spinner and seamer Carse

Pitch Conditions

If the visitors select an pace-only bowling lineup - four dedicated bowlers combined with multi-skilled player the captain - it would potentially be the quickest collection of bowlers they have fielded in an Test against Australia in Australia

Earlier this week WA wicket preparer the curator said to expect "fast and bouncy conditions" from the surface at the stadium, and it looks possible the English will follow a established strategy of an pace-only strategy

However the tourists have also observed a dryness to the pitch, putting Bashir into the running

Spinning Options

In the short history of the ground - five previous Tests have been hosted here - Australia spin bowler Lyon is the leading wicket-taker with twenty-nine

The team have supported the young spinner, twenty-two, as their main slow bowler for more than a year and in recent months he achieved the least experienced English bowler to achieve 50 wickets in international Tests

Yet he has been absent from a competitive game following taking the concluding scalp in a exciting triumph over India in the third Test at Lord's in summer

Recent Issues

Bashir has been suffering from a hand problem and found it difficult in the sole practice game against England Lions, returning overall statistics of 2 for 151 from his bowling spell

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

The agreement at his county ended at the conclusion of the domestic season

Expected Selection

Still, an England team containing Mark Wood, Archer, Gus Atkinson, skipper Stokes and Brydon Carse - each of whom are capable of reaching 90 miles per hour - continues to be the probable result

The initial game starts at 02:20 GMT on Friday, with instant commentary, expert analysis and real-time features provided

England Squad

Selected players for series opener: Duckett, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Smith (wicketkeeper), Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Bashir

Team Background

Although a number of English Ashes victories at domestically and internationally have been built on pace, they have not previously used as many express pace bowlers in the identical lineup

The lineup that succeeded at domestically in the memorable competition of that year included Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff

The captain's winning English side to Australia in that era had Willis, Lever and Snow, and the visiting team that triumphed in that period contained Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Present Circumstances

On this occasion - potentially the most exciting Ashes series in recent memory - the English team are hoping to change 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 match in Australia, but the bowler says that could work in England's favour

"This might be an positive," he told the press

"We've seen a numerous athletes who have stated they have had difficult experiences here in Australia

"For us, we are a quite calm, very positive group

"No negative experiences

"It's exhilarating

"The entire team views it as a massive chance to achieve something remarkable"

Opposition News

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

Australia are expected to provide an opportunity to opener Jack Weatherald, with yet to debut seamer Brendan Doggett also being included after fitness concerns to skipper Pat Cummins and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood