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England have maintained flexibility for the series opener by naming off-spinner Shoaib Bashir in a squad of twelve together with five pace bowlers

The fast bowler has been passed fit and is expected to participate versus the Aussies in Western Australia on the coming Friday, with the ultimate choice likely involving the young spinner and pace bowler Carse

Ground Situation

Should England choose an all-pace attack - four dedicated bowlers plus multi-skilled player the captain - it would arguably be the quickest collection of seamers they have deployed in an Ashes match in the host nation

On Wednesday local groundsman the curator stated to look for "pace and bounce" from the wicket at the venue, and it seems likely the English will stick to a established strategy of an pace-only strategy

Yet the tourists have also spotted a dryness to the surface, bringing the off-spinner into contention

Slow Bowling Factors

During the brief existence of this venue - five previous Tests have been hosted here - Australian spin bowler Lyon is the top wicket-taker with 29

The English management have backed the young spinner, 22, as their main slow bowler for since last year and in May he achieved the least experienced English bowler to reach 50 wickets in Tests

However he has missed a official match following claiming the final wicket in a thrilling win over India in the third match at Lord's in July

Recent Issues

He has been suffering from a broken finger and struggled in England's only warm-up match against the Lions, posting combined figures of 2 for 151 from 24 overs

This presents the possibility of the spinner playing in an Ashes Test without being affiliated with a county

The agreement at his county expired at the end of the home summer

Expected Selection

Still, an English side featuring Wood, Archer, Atkinson, captain Stokes and Brydon Carse - all of whom are likely to hit 90mph - stays the probable result

The opening match begins at 2:20 AM GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, expert analysis and in-play highlights available

England Squad

Selected players for first Ashes Test: Duckett, Crawley, Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Smith (wicketkeeper), Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Past Experience

Even though a number of English Ashes victories at domestically and internationally have been built on pace, they have never fielded as numerous fast bowlers in the same team

The lineup that succeeded at home in the celebrated contest of that year contained Steve Harmison, Jones and Flintoff

The captain's triumphant visitors to the host nation in those years had Bob Willis, Lever and John Snow, and the England team that succeeded in 1954-55 contained Brian Statham and Tyson

Modern Context

On this occasion - potentially the most exciting Ashes series in recent memory - England are looking to change an poor history - they have been unable to secure a Test match in the host country since 2011

Merely five individuals of the sixteen-player group have played a Test match in Australia, but the bowler comments that could help the visitors

"It could be an advantage," he told the press

"There are a many cricketers who have said they have had challenging periods down under

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

"No bad memories

"It's exhilarating

"The entire team views it as a huge opportunity to achieve something remarkable"

Host Team Situation

Australia's training on this week was briefly delayed by the threat of lightning

Australia are expected to hand a first cap to batsman Jack Weatherald, with yet to debut seamer Brendan Doggett also coming in after injuries to captain Pat Cummins and teammate Josh Hazlewood