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The tourists have maintained flexibility for the series opener by naming spin bowler Bashir in a squad of twelve alongside five fast bowlers

Wood is declared fit and appears likely to feature against Australia in Western Australia on the coming Friday, with the final decision probably involving the young spinner and fast bowler Brydon Carse

Pitch Conditions

If the visitors select an all-pace attack - four specialists plus all-rounder the captain - it would arguably be the most rapid assembly of pacemen they have deployed in an Test against Australia in this country

Earlier this week local groundsman McDonald stated to anticipate "speed and bounce" from the pitch at Perth Stadium, and it looks possible England will stick to a long-standing plan of an exclusively pace attack

However the visitors have also spotted a arid quality to the pitch, putting Bashir into contention

Spinning Options

In the short history of the ground - five earlier Tests have been staged here - Australia off-spinner the experienced spinner is the leading wicket-taker with 29

England have favored Bashir, twenty-two, as their primary spin option for over twelve months and in recent months he achieved the youngest England bowler to reach fifty wickets in Test matches

However he has not played a first-class game since taking the concluding scalp in a dramatic victory over the Indian team in the third match at Lord's in summer

Recent Challenges

Bashir has been recovering from a hand problem and found it difficult in the sole practice game against the Lions, returning match figures of two wickets for 151 runs from his bowling spell

This creates the possibility of Bashir competing in an Ashes Test without being attached to a first-class side

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

Probable Team

Nevertheless, an visiting team featuring Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, skipper Ben Stokes and Brydon Carse - every one of them are likely to hit 90 miles per hour - continues to be the expected conclusion

The opening match starts at 02:20 GMT on Friday, with real-time updates, specialist radio coverage and live action clips available

Team Selection

Team lineup for series opener: Ben Duckett, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (leader), Smith (gloveman), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Wood, Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Team Background

While a several English Ashes victories at in England and overseas have been built on pace, they have not previously selected as multiple quick bowlers in the equivalent side

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

The captain's triumphant visitors to the host nation in 1970-71 had Willis, Peter Lever and Snow, and the visiting team that triumphed in 1954-55 featured Statham and Tyson

Modern Context

In this instance - potentially the most exciting Ashes series in modern times - England are hoping to reverse an awful record - they have failed to win a Test in the host country since that year

Only five members of the sixteen-player group have experienced a international Test in the host nation, but Atkinson says that could help the visitors

"It could be an positive," he mentioned to reporters

"There have been a lot of players who have said they have had challenging periods here in Australia

"In our case, we are a extremely composed, highly optimistic group

"No scarring

"It's exhilarating

"Everyone considers it a massive chance to create history"

Australian Preparations

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

Australia are probably going to give a debut to batsman Weatherald, with new fast bowler Doggett also being included after fitness concerns to captain Cummins and colleague Josh Hazlewood