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England have maintained flexibility for the initial Ashes match by including off-spinner Shoaib Bashir in a 12-man squad combined with five seamers

The fast bowler has recovered and appears likely to feature versus the Aussies in Perth Stadium on the weekend, with the ultimate choice possibly involving off-spinner Bashir and pace bowler Carse

Ground Situation

If England opt for an all-pace attack - four specialists combined with all-rounder Stokes - it would possibly be the most rapid assembly of bowlers they have fielded in an Ashes match in Australia

On Wednesday local wicket preparer the curator commented to look for "speed and bounce" from the wicket at the stadium, and it seems likely the English will adhere to a long-standing plan of an pace-only strategy

However the English team have also observed a lack of moisture to the surface, putting the off-spinner into consideration

Slow Bowling Factors

In the short history of the ground - five previous Tests have been hosted here - Australian off-spinner Lyon is the most successful bowler with 29

The English management have backed Bashir, 22 years old, as their first-choice spinner for over twelve months and in May he became the least experienced English bowler to reach half-century of wickets in Tests

However he has not played a competitive game following taking the final wicket in a thrilling win over the Indian team in the third match at the famous ground in recently

Current Concerns

He has been out with a broken finger and had challenges in England's only warm-up match against England Lions, returning combined figures of 2-151 from 24 overs

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

The agreement at the domestic team expired at the finish of the English season

Probable Team

Still, an visiting team featuring Mark Wood, Archer, Atkinson, leader Stokes and Carse - each of whom are able to achieve high speeds - remains the expected conclusion

The opening match begins at 02:20 GMT on the weekend, with instant commentary, specialist radio coverage and live action clips available

Playing Group

Selected players for series opener: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (leader), Smith (wicketkeeper), Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Team Background

While a various English Ashes victories at in England and overseas have been constructed around fast bowling, they have not previously used as many express pace bowlers in the equivalent side

The team that succeeded at domestically in the memorable competition of 2005 Ashes featured Steve Harmison, Jones and Flintoff

Raymond Illingworth's triumphant visitors to Australia in 1970-71 had Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the England team that triumphed in that period contained Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Present Circumstances

In this instance - potentially the most exciting Test series in recent years - England are looking to overturn an difficult past - they have been unable to secure a five-day game in Australia since over a decade ago

Only five members of the 16-man squad have played a international Test in Australia, but the bowler states that could work in England's favour

"This might be an advantage," he mentioned to media outlets

"We've seen a many cricketers who have stated they have had challenging periods down under

"For us, we are a extremely composed, highly optimistic squad

"No bad memories

"It's thrilling

"The entire team views it as a huge opportunity to achieve something remarkable"

Host Team Situation

Australia's net session on this week was momentarily paused by the risk of storms

The hosts are probably going to provide an opportunity to opener Weatherald, with yet to debut pace bowler Brendan Doggett also joining after injuries to captain Cummins and teammate Hazlewood