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The English side has left decisions open for the first Ashes Test by including off-spinner the young spinner in a twelve-player team together with five seamers

Mark Wood has recovered and seems set to play versus the Aussies in Perth Stadium on Friday, with the final decision probably involving the young spinner and seamer Carse

Pitch Conditions

If the visitors select an all-pace attack - four dedicated bowlers combined with all-rounder Ben Stokes - it would arguably be the quickest collection of bowlers they have fielded in an Ashes match in this country

Recently Western Australia groundsman McDonald said to anticipate "pace and bounce" from the pitch at Perth Stadium, and it looks possible England will stick to a established strategy of an exclusively pace attack

Yet the English team have also spotted a dryness to the pitch, putting the off-spinner into the running

Slow Bowling Factors

Throughout the limited timeframe of Perth Stadium - five prior matches have been staged here - Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon is the most successful bowler with 29

England have favored the young spinner, twenty-two, as their first-choice spinner for since last year and in May he was recognized as the most youthful English bowler to achieve 50 wickets in Test matches

However he has missed a first-class game following claiming the last dismissal in a dramatic victory over the Indian team in the third match at Lord's in summer

Current Concerns

The spinner has been recovering from a broken finger and struggled in the sole practice game against the development squad, returning match figures of 2 for 151 from twenty-four overs

It also raises the prospect of Bashir participating in an Test against Australia without being attached to a domestic team

The agreement at his county expired at the finish of the English season

Probable Team

Still, an England team featuring Mark Wood, Archer, Atkinson, skipper Stokes and Brydon Carse - all of whom are capable of reaching high speeds - remains the most likely outcome

The initial game starts at early morning GMT on Friday, with live text coverage, specialist radio coverage and real-time features accessible

Team Selection

England squad for series opener: Ben Duckett, Crawley, Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (skipper), Jamie Smith (gloveman), Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Wood, Archer, Bashir

Historical Context

While a number of successful Ashes campaigns at domestically and internationally have been built on pace, they have never fielded as many express pace bowlers in the equivalent side

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

Raymond Illingworth's successful touring team to Australia in those years had Willis, Peter Lever and Snow, and the English side that won in 1954-55 contained Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Current Situation

On this occasion - among the most highly anticipated Test series in recent memory - England are aiming to change an poor history - they have been unable to secure a Test in the host country since 2011

Only five members of the extended squad have participated in a international Test in Australia, but the bowler comments that could help the visitors

"This could represent an advantage," he explained to reporters

"There are a lot of players who have mentioned they have had difficult experiences here in Australia

"For us, we are a extremely composed, very positive group

"No scarring

"It's very exciting

"The entire team views it as a great possibility to achieve something remarkable"

Opposition News

The Australian training on this week was momentarily paused by the possibility of bad weather

The hosts are expected to give a debut to batsman Jack Weatherald, with yet to debut seamer Doggett also coming in following injuries to skipper Pat Cummins and fellow seamer Hazlewood