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The English side has kept their options open for the initial Ashes match by selecting spin bowler Shoaib Bashir in a twelve-player team alongside five seamers

The fast bowler is declared fit and appears likely to feature against Australia in Perth Stadium on the coming Friday, with the ultimate choice possibly between off-spinner Bashir and seamer Carse

Pitch Conditions

Should England choose an all-pace attack - four main pacers combined with all-rounder the captain - it would potentially be the quickest collection of seamers they have fielded in an Test against Australia in Australia

On Wednesday local wicket preparer Isaac McDonald commented to look for "speed and bounce" from the wicket at the venue, and it looks possible England will follow a long-standing plan of an pace-only strategy

But the English team have also observed a lack of moisture to the wicket, placing the off-spinner into contention

Spinning Options

During the brief existence of this venue - five prior matches have been staged here - Australia spin bowler the experienced spinner is the most successful bowler with twenty-nine

The team have backed the young spinner, 22 years old, as their first-choice spinner for since last year and in spring he was recognized as the least experienced English bowler to reach 50 wickets in international Tests

Yet he has not played a first-class game after securing the final wicket in a exciting triumph over the Indian team in the third Test at the famous ground in July

Current Concerns

Bashir has been recovering from a broken finger and struggled in England's only warm-up match against England Lions, recording match figures of 2-151 from 24 overs

This presents the scenario of him competing in an Ashes Test without being contracted with a first-class side

His deal at the domestic team concluded at the end of the home summer

Likely Lineup

Nevertheless, an England team featuring Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, leader Ben Stokes and Carse - each of whom are likely to hit high speeds - stays the probable result

The initial game starts at 2:20 AM GMT on the weekend, with live text coverage, Test Match Special commentary and real-time features accessible

England Squad

Selected players for initial Ashes match: Duckett, Zak Crawley, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes (leader), Smith (gloveman), Atkinson, Carse, Wood, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Team Background

While a several successful Ashes campaigns at domestically and internationally have been built on pace, they have not previously selected as many express pace bowlers in the identical lineup

The side that succeeded at domestically in the famous series of 2005 Ashes contained Harmison, Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Illingworth's winning English side to Australia in 1970-71 had Willis, Peter Lever and Snow, and the visiting team that succeeded in those seasons featured Statham and Tyson

Modern Context

On this occasion - one of the most eagerly anticipated England-Australia contests in recent years - the visitors are looking to reverse an poor history - they have not won a five-day game in the host country since over a decade ago

Just five players of the 16-man squad have participated in a Test in the host nation, but Atkinson comments that could help the visitors

"This might be an positive," he told media outlets

"We've seen a lot of players who have said they have had challenging periods here in Australia

"Regarding our team, we are a extremely composed, highly optimistic team

"No bad memories

"It's exhilarating

"We all see it as a massive chance to do something special"

Host Team Situation

Australia's practice session on this week was temporarily interrupted by the risk of storms

The home side are probably going to give a debut to opener Weatherald, with yet to debut pace bowler Brendan Doggett also being included due to fitness concerns to captain Pat Cummins and teammate Josh Hazlewood