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England have kept their options open for the first Ashes Test by naming spin bowler the young spinner in a 12-man squad together with five fast bowlers

Wood is declared fit and seems set to play versus the Aussies in Perth Stadium on Friday, with the last selection probably coming down to off-spinner Bashir and seamer the seamer

Wicket Factors

Should England choose an pace-only bowling lineup - four main pacers plus multi-skilled player Stokes - it would potentially be the quickest collection of seamers they have fielded in an Ashes match in this country

Earlier this week WA pitch curator Isaac McDonald commented to anticipate "fast and bouncy conditions" from the surface at Perth Stadium, and it appears probable England will adhere to a established strategy of an exclusively pace attack

Yet the English team have also spotted a arid quality to the pitch, placing the off-spinner into the running

Spinning Options

During the brief existence of Perth Stadium - five earlier Tests have been staged here - Australian spin bowler Lyon is the most successful bowler with 29 dismissals

The team have favored Bashir, 22 years old, as their first-choice spinner for over twelve months and in May he became the youngest England bowler to attain half-century of wickets in Tests

But he has not played a competitive game after securing the final wicket in a thrilling win over India in the third match at the famous ground in recently

Recent Challenges

He has been suffering from a broken finger and found it difficult in England's only warm-up match against the Lions, recording combined figures of 2-151 from twenty-four overs

It also raises the possibility of the spinner participating in an Test against Australia without being contracted with a county

His contract at Somerset ended at the end of the home summer

Expected Selection

Still, an visiting team containing Mark Wood, Archer, Gus Atkinson, captain Ben Stokes and Brydon Carse - each of whom are capable of reaching 90 miles per hour - remains the most likely outcome

The initial game begins at 02:20 GMT on the weekend, with live text coverage, specialist radio coverage and real-time features available

England Squad

Team lineup for series opener: Duckett, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Brook, Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Archer, Bashir

Team Background

Even though a various successful Ashes campaigns at in England and overseas have been built on pace, they have not previously used as many express pace bowlers in the equivalent side

The team that succeeded at domestically in the celebrated contest of that year included Harmison, Jones and Flintoff

The captain's winning English side to the host nation in that era had Bob Willis, Lever and Snow, and the visiting team that triumphed in 1954-55 contained Brian Statham and Tyson

Modern Context

This time around - among the most highly anticipated Ashes series in modern times - the English team are hoping to overturn an difficult past - they have been unable to secure a five-day game in Australia since over a decade ago

Just five players of the extended squad have participated in a international Test in Australia, but the bowler says that could work in England's favour

"It could be an benefit," he explained to the press

"There have been a lot of players who have stated they have had challenging periods in this country

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

"No negative experiences

"It's very exciting

"We all see it as a massive chance to achieve something remarkable"

Opposition News

The host team's net session on Wednesday was temporarily interrupted by the possibility of bad weather

Australia are expected to give a debut to batsman Jack Weatherald, with yet to debut pace bowler Brendan Doggett also joining due to fitness concerns to skipper Cummins and colleague Josh Hazlewood