The visitors Name Shoaib Bashir in Team for Ashes Opener

England have maintained flexibility for the series opener by naming slow bowler the young spinner in a 12-man squad alongside five seamers

The fast bowler is declared fit and appears likely to feature facing the hosts in Perth Stadium on the coming Friday, with the final decision likely coming down to the young spinner and pace bowler the seamer

Pitch Conditions

If the visitors select an all-pace attack - four specialists combined with multi-skilled player Stokes - it would potentially be the most rapid assembly of bowlers they have fielded in an Test against Australia in this country

Recently local wicket preparer McDonald said to anticipate "pace and bounce" from the pitch at the stadium, and it seems likely the English will stick to a established strategy of an pace-only strategy

However the visitors have also noted a dryness to the surface, putting Bashir into consideration

Spinning Options

In the short history of this venue - five previous Tests have been played here - Australian spin bowler Lyon is the leading wicket-taker with twenty-nine

England have backed Shoaib, twenty-two, as their primary spin option for more than a year and in recent months he achieved the least experienced English bowler to achieve 50 wickets in Test matches

But he has missed a competitive game after claiming the concluding scalp in a dramatic victory over the Indian team in the third match at the famous ground in July

Current Concerns

The spinner has been suffering from a finger injury and struggled in England's only warm-up match against the development squad, returning overall statistics of 2 for 151 from twenty-four overs

This creates the prospect of Bashir competing in an Ashes Test without being contracted with a county

His contract at Somerset ended at the finish of the English season

Expected Selection

However, an visiting team featuring Wood, Jofra Archer, Atkinson, skipper Stokes and Brydon Carse - every one of them are capable of reaching 90mph - remains the expected conclusion

The opening match commences at 02:20 GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, specialist radio coverage and in-play highlights accessible

Playing Group

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

Past Experience

Even though a various English Ashes victories at domestically and internationally have been founded on quick bowling, they have never fielded as numerous fast bowlers in the identical lineup

The side that triumphed at in England in the famous series of 2005 Ashes featured Harmison, Jones and Flintoff

Illingworth's successful touring team to the host nation in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and Snow, and the England team that succeeded in 1954-55 featured Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Modern Context

In this instance - among the most highly anticipated Ashes series in modern times - England are looking to overturn an poor history - they have been unable to secure a Test match in the host country since 2011

Only five members of the sixteen-player group have experienced a international Test in Australia, but the bowler says that could work in England's favour

"This might be an benefit," he mentioned to the press

"There are a numerous athletes who have stated they have had challenging periods here in Australia

"Regarding our team, we are a extremely composed, extremely confident group

"No bad memories

"It's thrilling

"The entire team views it as a great possibility to create history"

Opposition News

Australia's net session 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 seamer Brendan Doggett also coming in after injuries to skipper Cummins and teammate Josh Hazlewood