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England have maintained flexibility for the initial Ashes match by including slow bowler Shoaib Bashir in a twelve-player team alongside five fast bowlers

Wood has been passed fit and seems set to play against Australia in Perth on the coming Friday, with the final decision probably involving spinner Bashir and pace bowler Carse

Wicket Factors

If the visitors select an pace-only bowling lineup - four specialists combined with multi-skilled player Ben Stokes - it would arguably be the quickest collection of seamers they have used in an Ashes Test in the host nation

Earlier this week WA wicket preparer the curator commented to expect "pace and bounce" from the surface at Perth Stadium, and it looks possible the tourists will stick to a established strategy of an exclusively pace attack

But the tourists have also spotted a lack of moisture to the surface, bringing the spinner into consideration

Slow Bowling Factors

In the short history of Perth Stadium - five prior matches have been hosted here - Australian spin bowler Lyon is the top wicket-taker with 29

England have supported Bashir, 22, as their primary spin option for more than a year and in spring he became the least experienced English bowler to achieve half-century of wickets in international Tests

However he has missed a first-class game after securing the final wicket in a dramatic victory over the Indian team in the third match at Lord's in July

Current Concerns

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

It also raises the prospect of him participating in an Ashes Test without being affiliated with a county

His deal at the domestic team concluded at the finish of the English season

Probable Team

Still, an England team containing Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, skipper Ben Stokes and Brydon Carse - all of whom are able to achieve 90mph - stays the probable result

The first Test begins at early morning GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, specialist radio coverage and in-play highlights available

Team Selection

England squad for initial Ashes match: Ben Duckett, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Root, Brook, Ben Stokes (skipper), Jamie Smith (gloveman), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Bashir

Past Experience

Even though a number of England Ashes triumphs at in England and overseas have been constructed around fast bowling, they have never fielded as multiple quick bowlers in the identical lineup

The lineup that triumphed at in England in the celebrated contest of 2005 Ashes contained Harmison, Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Illingworth's triumphant visitors to the host nation in that era had Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the England team that triumphed in that period contained Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Modern Context

In this instance - potentially the most exciting Test series in modern times - the visitors are hoping to overturn an difficult past - they have failed to win a Test in Australia since that year

Just five players of the 16-man squad have participated in a Test match in the host nation, but the bowler says that could help the visitors

"This might be an positive," he mentioned to the press

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

"In our case, we are a quite calm, very positive team

"No bad memories

"It's thrilling

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

Australian Preparations

The host team's net session on Wednesday was temporarily interrupted by the risk of storms

The home side are expected to give a debut to opener Weatherald, with new fast bowler Brendan Doggett also being included due to injuries to captain Cummins and colleague Hazlewood