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The tourists have left decisions open for the initial Ashes match by selecting slow bowler the young spinner in a squad of twelve together with five pace bowlers

Mark Wood is declared fit and is expected to participate versus the Aussies in Western Australia on the weekend, with the final decision likely coming down to spinner Bashir and fast bowler Carse

Ground Situation

If the visitors select an fast bowling unit - four main pacers along with all-rounder Stokes - it would potentially be the most rapid assembly of pacemen they have deployed in an Ashes Test in this country

Earlier this week Western Australia groundsman the curator said to look for "fast and bouncy conditions" from the surface at the stadium, and it looks possible the English will stick to a traditional approach of an pace-only strategy

However the tourists have also observed a dryness to the surface, placing the spinner into the running

Spinning Options

Throughout the limited timeframe of the ground - five earlier Tests have been hosted here - Australian spin bowler the experienced spinner is the most successful bowler with 29

England have backed Shoaib, 22, as their main slow bowler for over twelve months and in recent months he achieved the least experienced English bowler to reach half-century of wickets in international Tests

But he has not played a official match following claiming the final wicket in a thrilling win over the Indian team in the final Test at the famous ground in recently

Recent Challenges

He has been out with a hand problem and struggled in the single preparation match against the development squad, posting combined figures of two wickets for 151 runs from 24 overs

This presents the scenario of him competing in an Ashes match without being affiliated with a county

His contract at Somerset ended at the conclusion of the domestic season

Likely Lineup

Nevertheless, an visiting team including Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, leader Stokes and Brydon Carse - every one of them are capable of reaching 90 miles per hour - stays the most likely outcome

The initial game commences at 2:20 AM GMT on Friday, with real-time updates, expert analysis and in-play highlights accessible

Team Selection

Selected players for series opener: Ben Duckett, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Brook, Ben Stokes (leader), Jamie Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Bashir

Past Experience

Although a number of successful Ashes campaigns at domestically and internationally have been founded on quick bowling, they have not previously used as multiple quick bowlers in the identical lineup

The team that won at domestically in the celebrated contest of that year contained Harmison, Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Illingworth's triumphant visitors to the host nation in those years had Willis, Lever and John Snow, and the England team that triumphed in that period contained Statham and Tyson

Current Situation

This time around - potentially the most exciting England-Australia contests in recent years - England are aiming to reverse an difficult past - they have not won a five-day game in Australia since 2011

Only five members of the 16-man squad have experienced a Test in Australia, but Atkinson comments that could work in England's favour

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

"There are a numerous athletes who have stated they have had some tough times in this country

"Regarding our team, we are a quite calm, extremely confident squad

"No scarring

"It's thrilling

"Everyone considers it a huge opportunity to achieve something remarkable"

Host Team Situation

The host team's training on recently was momentarily paused by the risk of storms

Australia are probably going to provide an opportunity to batsman Jack Weatherald, with new seamer Brendan Doggett also joining due to fitness concerns to captain Cummins and colleague Hazlewood