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The English side has maintained flexibility for the series opener by naming spin bowler Bashir in a 12-man squad combined with five seamers

Mark Wood is declared fit and appears likely to feature facing the hosts in Perth on the coming Friday, with the final decision likely between off-spinner Bashir and pace bowler Carse

Wicket Factors

Should England choose an fast bowling unit - four specialists plus multi-skilled player Stokes - it would arguably be the quickest collection of bowlers they have used in an Ashes match in this country

On Wednesday local wicket preparer the curator said to anticipate "fast and bouncy conditions" from the pitch at the venue, and it seems likely England will follow a long-standing plan of an exclusively pace attack

But the tourists have also spotted a dryness to the wicket, putting the off-spinner into the running

Spin Considerations

In the short history of Perth Stadium - five previous Tests have been staged here - Australian spin bowler Lyon is the leading wicket-taker with 29 dismissals

The English management have supported the young spinner, 22 years old, as their main slow bowler for more than a year and in spring he was recognized as the youngest England bowler to reach half-century of wickets in international Tests

Yet he has not played a competitive game after taking the last dismissal in a exciting triumph over the Indian team in the final Test at the famous ground in July

Current Concerns

Bashir has been recovering from a hand problem and struggled in the single preparation match against the development squad, recording combined figures of two wickets for 151 runs from his bowling spell

This presents the scenario of the spinner participating in an Ashes match without being attached to a county

The agreement at the domestic team ended at the conclusion of the domestic season

Expected Selection

However, an visiting team featuring Wood, Jofra Archer, Atkinson, skipper Ben Stokes and Brydon Carse - every one of them are able to achieve 90mph - continues to be the most likely outcome

The initial game starts at early morning GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, specialist radio coverage and in-play highlights accessible

England Squad

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

Past Experience

While a number of successful Ashes campaigns at in England and overseas have been built on pace, they have never fielded as many express pace bowlers in the identical lineup

The side that won at in England in the memorable competition of 2005 Ashes included Steve Harmison, Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Illingworth's successful touring team to Australia in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and Snow, and the English side that won in that period featured Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Present Circumstances

This time around - potentially the most exciting England-Australia contests in recent memory - the visitors are hoping to reverse an awful record - they have been unable to secure a Test in Australia since that year

Just five players of the extended squad have participated in a Test in Australia, but the bowler comments that could help the visitors

"It could be an positive," he told reporters

"We've seen a lot of players who have stated they have had difficult experiences down under

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

"No negative experiences

"It's very exciting

"The entire team views it as a huge opportunity to do something special"

Host Team Situation

The host team's training on this week was temporarily interrupted by the threat of lightning

The hosts are expected to provide an opportunity to opener Jack Weatherald, with uncapped seamer Doggett also coming in following health issues to captain Cummins and colleague Hazlewood