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The English side has maintained flexibility for the initial Ashes match by selecting slow bowler Bashir in a squad of twelve alongside five seamers

Wood is declared fit and is expected to participate versus the Aussies in Perth on the coming Friday, with the ultimate choice possibly between off-spinner Bashir and seamer the seamer

Pitch Conditions

Should England choose an pace-only bowling lineup - four dedicated bowlers combined with multi-skilled player Ben Stokes - it would possibly be the fastest group of bowlers they have deployed in an Ashes match in the host nation

On Wednesday WA pitch curator the curator said to anticipate "speed and bounce" from the surface at the venue, and it seems likely England will stick to a established strategy of an fast bowling focus

But the visitors have also observed a dryness to the wicket, putting Bashir into the running

Spin Considerations

During the brief existence of Perth Stadium - five previous Tests have been hosted here - Australia spin bowler Lyon is the top wicket-taker with twenty-nine

The English management have supported the young spinner, 22 years old, as their first-choice spinner for over twelve months and in spring he became the least experienced English bowler to attain half-century of wickets in Tests

Yet he has been absent from a first-class game after claiming the last dismissal in a dramatic victory over India in the final Test at the famous ground in July

Current Concerns

The spinner has been suffering from a broken finger and had challenges in England's only warm-up match against the development squad, recording overall statistics of 2 for 151 from his bowling spell

It also raises the prospect of Bashir competing in an Test against Australia without being contracted with a county

His deal at his county expired at the end of the home summer

Likely Lineup

Still, an visiting team including Wood, Jofra Archer, Atkinson, captain Ben Stokes and Carse - all of whom are capable of reaching 90 miles per hour - continues to be the expected conclusion

The initial game begins at 02:20 GMT on the weekend, with instant commentary, specialist radio coverage and live action clips provided

England Squad

England squad for initial Ashes match: Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Stokes (skipper), Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Past Experience

Even though a number of English Ashes victories at in England and overseas have been founded on quick bowling, they have not previously used as multiple quick bowlers in the equivalent side

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

Raymond Illingworth's triumphant visitors to the host nation in that era had Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the England team that won in those seasons contained Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Modern Context

In this instance - among the most highly anticipated Test series in modern times - the English team are hoping to reverse an poor history - they have failed to win a Test match in Australia since that year

Only five members of the 16-man squad have played a Test match in Australia, but Atkinson says that could benefit the English team

"This might be an positive," he told reporters

"There have been a lot of players who have mentioned they have had difficult experiences in this country

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

"No scarring

"It's thrilling

"We all see it as a great possibility to do something special"

Host Team Situation

Australia's training on this week was momentarily paused by the threat of lightning

Australia are probably going to give a debut to opener Weatherald, with yet to debut fast bowler Doggett also coming in due to health issues to skipper Pat Cummins and teammate Hazlewood