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The tourists have kept their options open for the series opener by selecting off-spinner Bashir in a squad of twelve together with five seamers

The fast bowler has been passed fit and is expected to participate facing the hosts in Perth Stadium on the weekend, with the last selection probably coming down to the young spinner and pace bowler Brydon Carse

Ground Situation

Should England choose an fast bowling unit - four main pacers plus multi-skilled player Ben Stokes - it would arguably be the most rapid assembly of seamers they have fielded in an Ashes Test in the host nation

Earlier this week local groundsman Isaac McDonald said to look for "speed and bounce" from the wicket at the venue, and it seems likely the tourists will adhere to a long-standing plan of an exclusively pace attack

But the English team have also observed a dryness to the pitch, bringing the off-spinner into the running

Spin Considerations

During the brief existence of this venue - five previous Tests have been played here - Australia spin bowler Lyon is the most successful bowler with 29

The English management have favored Bashir, 22 years old, as their first-choice spinner for more than a year and in spring he achieved the youngest England bowler to attain half-century of wickets in Test matches

However he has not played a official match since taking the last dismissal in a dramatic victory over India in the third match at Lord's in recently

Current Concerns

Bashir has been suffering from a broken finger and struggled in the sole practice game against the development squad, returning match figures of 2-151 from his bowling spell

This creates the scenario of the spinner playing in an Test against Australia without being affiliated with a county

The agreement at his county concluded at the conclusion of the domestic season

Likely Lineup

Still, an English side including Wood, Jofra Archer, Atkinson, captain Stokes and Carse - every one of them are able to achieve 90mph - continues to be the probable result

The opening match starts at 2:20 AM GMT on Friday, with live text coverage, expert analysis and in-play highlights accessible

England Squad

Team lineup for series opener: Ben Duckett, Crawley, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes (skipper), Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Bashir

Historical Context

Although a various successful Ashes campaigns at domestically and internationally have been constructed around fast bowling, they have never fielded as numerous fast bowlers in the same team

The team that succeeded at domestically in the celebrated contest of 2005 Ashes included Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Flintoff

Raymond Illingworth's triumphant visitors to the host nation in 1970-71 had Willis, Peter Lever and Snow, and the England team that succeeded in 1954-55 contained Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Modern Context

This time around - potentially the most exciting Ashes series in recent years - the visitors are aiming to reverse an poor history - they have been unable to secure a Test match in the host country since 2011

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

"It could be an advantage," he mentioned to media outlets

"We've seen a numerous athletes who have mentioned they have had some tough times down under

"For us, we are a quite calm, highly optimistic group

"No scarring

"It's exhilarating

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

Opposition News

Australia's training on Wednesday was temporarily interrupted by the possibility of bad weather

Australia are likely to hand a first cap to batsman Jack Weatherald, with new pace bowler Brendan Doggett also coming in due to health issues to captain Pat Cummins and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood