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The English side has maintained flexibility for the first Ashes Test by including slow bowler Shoaib Bashir in a squad of twelve together with five seamers

Mark Wood has been passed fit and appears likely to feature versus the Aussies in Western Australia on the coming Friday, with the ultimate choice possibly involving spinner Bashir and seamer the seamer

Wicket Factors

If England opt for an all-pace attack - four main pacers plus multi-skilled player Stokes - it would arguably be the fastest group of pacemen they have fielded in an Test against Australia in this country

Recently local pitch curator the curator commented to anticipate "speed and bounce" from the pitch at the stadium, and it seems likely the English will stick to a long-standing plan of an pace-only strategy

Yet the visitors have also observed a dryness to the surface, putting the off-spinner into consideration

Spinning Options

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

The English management have favored Bashir, twenty-two, as their main slow bowler for since last year and in spring he achieved the youngest England bowler to achieve fifty wickets in Tests

However he has not played a official match after taking the last dismissal in a thrilling win over India in the final Test at the famous ground in July

Current Concerns

Bashir has been out with a broken finger and found it difficult in England's only warm-up match against the Lions, recording overall statistics of 2-151 from twenty-four overs

This presents the possibility of Bashir playing in an Ashes match without being attached to a county

The agreement at Somerset concluded at the finish of the English season

Expected Selection

However, an visiting team containing Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, leader Stokes and Brydon Carse - all of whom are able to achieve 90 miles per hour - continues to be the expected conclusion

The opening match commences at early morning GMT on the weekend, with live text coverage, expert analysis and in-play highlights available

Team Selection

Team lineup for initial Ashes match: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes (leader), Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Bashir

Historical Context

While a several 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 won at in England in the memorable competition of 2005 featured Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Raymond Illingworth's winning English side to the host nation in that era had Willis, Lever and Snow, and the England team that won in 1954-55 featured Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Current Situation

On this occasion - one of the most eagerly anticipated England-Australia contests in recent years - the visitors are looking to change an awful record - they have not won a Test match in Australia since over a decade ago

Just five players of the sixteen-player group have experienced a Test in Australia, but the bowler comments that could work in England's favour

"This might be an advantage," he explained to the press

"We've seen a numerous athletes who have mentioned they have had challenging periods down under

"For us, we are a quite calm, extremely confident team

"No bad memories

"It's very exciting

"We all see it as a huge opportunity to achieve something remarkable"

Host Team Situation

Australia's net session on Wednesday was briefly delayed by the risk of storms

The hosts are expected to provide an opportunity to batsman Weatherald, with new fast bowler Doggett also coming in due to injuries to skipper Cummins and fellow seamer Hazlewood