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England have left decisions open for the series opener by selecting spin bowler the young spinner in a twelve-player team alongside five seamers

Wood has been passed fit and appears likely to feature against Australia in Perth Stadium on the weekend, with the final decision probably between spinner Bashir and pace bowler Brydon Carse

Ground Situation

If England opt for an all-pace attack - four dedicated bowlers along with all-rounder the captain - it would potentially be the fastest group of seamers they have deployed in an Ashes Test in the host nation

On Wednesday Western Australia pitch curator Isaac McDonald said to anticipate "fast and bouncy conditions" from the wicket at Perth Stadium, and it seems likely the tourists will follow a traditional approach of an exclusively pace attack

Yet the visitors have also noted a arid quality to the pitch, bringing Bashir into consideration

Spinning Options

During the brief existence of this venue - five previous Tests have been played here - Australian off-spinner the experienced spinner is the leading wicket-taker with 29

The English management have backed Bashir, 22, as their main slow bowler for more than a year and in recent months he achieved the least experienced English bowler to attain 50 wickets in Test matches

However he has not played a official match since taking the last dismissal in a thrilling win over India in the final Test at Lord's in summer

Recent Challenges

Bashir has been suffering from a broken finger and found it difficult in England's only warm-up match against the development squad, posting combined figures of 2-151 from his bowling spell

This creates the scenario of him playing in an Ashes Test without being contracted with a county

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

Expected Selection

However, an visiting team including Wood, Jofra Archer, Atkinson, skipper Stokes and Brydon Carse - each of whom are likely to hit 90 miles per hour - remains the probable result

The opening match begins at 02:20 GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, Test Match Special commentary and real-time features accessible

Playing Group

Team lineup for initial Ashes match: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (skipper), Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Wood, Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Historical Context

Even though a number of England Ashes triumphs at domestically and internationally have been built on pace, they have not previously selected as multiple quick bowlers in the identical lineup

The side that won at home in the celebrated contest of that year included Harmison, Simon Jones and Flintoff

Illingworth's triumphant visitors to Australia in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Lever and John Snow, and the English side that triumphed in those seasons featured Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Current Situation

In this instance - potentially the most exciting England-Australia contests in recent memory - England are hoping to reverse an poor history - they have not won a five-day game in Australia since over a decade ago

Merely five individuals of the extended squad have played a Test in Australia, but Atkinson comments that could help the visitors

"This could represent an positive," he told media outlets

"There have been a lot of players who have stated they have had difficult experiences down under

"In our case, we are a quite calm, highly optimistic group

"No bad memories

"It's very exciting

"The entire team views it as a massive chance to create history"

Opposition News

The Australian practice session on this week was momentarily paused by the possibility of bad weather

The hosts are probably going to hand a first cap to opener Jack Weatherald, with uncapped pace bowler Brendan Doggett also coming in after fitness concerns to skipper Pat Cummins and teammate Josh Hazlewood