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The tourists have kept their options open for the initial Ashes match by selecting spin bowler Shoaib Bashir in a 12-man squad combined with five seamers

Mark Wood has recovered and appears likely to feature versus the Aussies in Western Australia on the coming Friday, with the ultimate choice possibly coming down to spinner Bashir and fast bowler Brydon Carse

Ground Situation

Should England choose an pace-only bowling lineup - four main pacers along with multi-skilled player Stokes - it would possibly be the most rapid assembly of seamers they have used in an Ashes match in this country

Recently Western Australia groundsman Isaac McDonald commented to look for "fast and bouncy conditions" from the surface at the venue, and it looks possible the English will adhere to a long-standing plan of an fast bowling focus

Yet the visitors have also spotted a lack of moisture to the surface, placing the off-spinner into contention

Spin Considerations

In the short history of this venue - five previous Tests have been staged here - Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon is the most successful bowler with twenty-nine

England have supported the young spinner, twenty-two, as their first-choice spinner for more than a year and in recent months he became the youngest England bowler to achieve fifty wickets in Test matches

However he has been absent from a competitive game since claiming the final wicket in a thrilling win over the Indian team in the third match at Lord's in recently

Recent Challenges

The spinner has been suffering from a broken finger and found it difficult in England's only warm-up match against the Lions, returning match figures of 2 for 151 from his bowling spell

It also raises the prospect of the spinner playing in an Ashes match without being affiliated with a domestic team

The agreement at Somerset concluded at the end of the home summer

Expected Selection

However, an England team featuring Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, skipper Ben Stokes and Brydon Carse - every one of them are able to achieve 90mph - remains the probable result

The initial game begins at 02:20 GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, specialist radio coverage and live action clips accessible

Team Selection

Team lineup for first Ashes Test: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Pope, Joe Root, Brook, Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (gloveman), Atkinson, Carse, Wood, Jofra Archer, Bashir

Team Background

While a number of English Ashes victories at home and abroad have been constructed around fast bowling, they have never fielded as multiple quick bowlers in the same team

The side that triumphed at home in the celebrated contest of that year contained Harmison, Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Illingworth's winning English side to the host nation in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the English side that triumphed in 1954-55 contained Brian Statham and Tyson

Modern Context

This time around - one of the most eagerly anticipated Ashes series in modern times - the visitors are aiming to reverse an poor history - they have not won a Test match in Australia since over a decade ago

Only five members of the sixteen-player group have participated in a Test match in Australia, but the bowler states that could help the visitors

"This could represent an positive," he told the press

"There have been a lot of players who have said they have had some tough times in this country

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

"No negative experiences

"It's exhilarating

"The entire team views it as a huge opportunity to create history"

Opposition News

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

Australia are expected to hand a first cap to opener Jack Weatherald, with new pace bowler Brendan Doggett also joining following fitness concerns to captain Pat Cummins and teammate Josh Hazlewood