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England have maintained flexibility for the initial Ashes match by including off-spinner the young spinner in a twelve-player team alongside five seamers

Mark Wood is declared fit and seems set to play versus the Aussies in Perth on the coming Friday, with the final decision probably between off-spinner Bashir and seamer Carse

Pitch Conditions

If England opt for an pace-only bowling lineup - four dedicated bowlers along with multi-skilled player Stokes - it would possibly be the fastest group of pacemen they have fielded in an Test against Australia in the host nation

On Wednesday local wicket preparer the curator stated to expect "speed and bounce" from the wicket at the stadium, and it looks possible the tourists will adhere to a long-standing plan of an pace-only strategy

Yet the tourists have also spotted a dryness to the wicket, bringing the spinner into the running

Spinning Options

During the brief existence of the ground - five previous Tests have been played here - Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon is the leading wicket-taker with 29 dismissals

The English management have supported Bashir, twenty-two, as their main slow bowler for over twelve months and in spring he achieved the least experienced English bowler to reach half-century of wickets in Test matches

But he has been absent from a competitive game since claiming the final wicket in a thrilling win over India in the third match at Lord's in July

Recent Issues

The spinner has been out with a hand problem and struggled in the sole practice game against the Lions, posting overall statistics of 2 for 151 from his bowling spell

It also raises the possibility of the spinner participating in an Ashes match without being attached to a county

His contract at his county ended at the finish of the English season

Likely Lineup

However, an visiting team featuring Wood, Archer, Gus Atkinson, skipper Stokes and Brydon Carse - every one of them are likely to hit 90 miles per hour - continues to be the expected conclusion

The initial game starts at early morning GMT on Friday, with real-time updates, Test Match Special commentary and live action clips available

Playing Group

Team lineup for initial Ashes match: Duckett, Zak Crawley, Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Stokes (skipper), Smith (wicketkeeper), Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Bashir

Team Background

Even though 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 identical lineup

The lineup that succeeded at home in the memorable competition of that year featured Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff

The captain's triumphant visitors to the host nation in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the England team that won in that period featured Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Present Circumstances

On this occasion - one of the most eagerly anticipated Test series in recent memory - the English team are looking to overturn an awful record - they have been unable to secure a Test match in Australia since over a decade ago

Only five members of the 16-man squad have played a Test in Australia, but Atkinson comments that could benefit the English team

"This could represent an advantage," he explained to media outlets

"There are a lot of players who have said they have had difficult experiences down under

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

"No bad memories

"It's thrilling

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

Opposition News

The host team's net session on Wednesday was temporarily interrupted by the threat of lightning

Australia are probably going to hand a first cap to batsman Jack Weatherald, with new seamer Brendan Doggett also joining due to health issues to captain Cummins and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood