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The tourists have kept their options open for the series opener by including off-spinner the young spinner in a 12-man squad combined with five fast bowlers

Wood is declared fit and seems set to play against Australia in Perth on the coming Friday, with the final decision probably involving the young spinner and pace bowler the seamer

Ground Situation

If the visitors select an fast bowling unit - four dedicated bowlers plus multi-skilled player Ben Stokes - it would possibly be the fastest group of pacemen they have used in an Test against Australia in the host nation

Recently Western Australia groundsman Isaac McDonald stated to expect "pace and bounce" from the pitch at the stadium, and it looks possible England will follow a long-standing plan of an pace-only strategy

But the English team have also spotted a arid quality to the pitch, placing the off-spinner into consideration

Spin Considerations

During the brief existence of this venue - five previous Tests have been staged here - Australian off-spinner the experienced spinner is the top wicket-taker with 29

England have backed the young spinner, 22 years old, as their primary spin option for over twelve months and in May he became the least experienced English bowler to reach 50 wickets in international Tests

But he has not played a first-class game after securing the concluding scalp in a thrilling win over India in the third Test at Lord's in July

Recent Challenges

Bashir has been suffering from a hand problem and had challenges in England's only warm-up match against the Lions, returning match figures of two wickets for 151 runs from 24 overs

This creates the prospect of the spinner competing in an Test against Australia without being contracted with a domestic team

His deal at his county expired at the conclusion of the domestic season

Expected Selection

Nevertheless, an visiting team featuring Wood, Archer, Atkinson, leader Stokes and Brydon Carse - each of whom are capable of reaching high speeds - remains the probable result

The opening match starts at 2:20 AM GMT on Friday, with instant commentary, specialist radio coverage and in-play highlights available

Playing Group

Selected players for series opener: Duckett, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (skipper), Smith (wk), Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Wood, Archer, Bashir

Team Background

While a various successful Ashes campaigns at home and abroad have been constructed around fast bowling, they have never fielded as numerous fast bowlers in the equivalent side

The lineup that succeeded at in England in the famous series of that year contained Harmison, Jones and Flintoff

Illingworth's triumphant visitors to the host nation in that era had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the England team that succeeded in those seasons included Brian Statham and Tyson

Modern Context

On this occasion - potentially the most exciting Test series in recent memory - England are hoping to reverse an poor history - they have failed to win a Test in Australia since that year

Merely five individuals of the extended squad have played a Test in Australia, but the bowler comments that could help the visitors

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

"We've seen a lot of players who have stated they have had challenging periods in this country

"In our case, we are a extremely composed, highly optimistic group

"No scarring

"It's very exciting

"The entire team views it as a great possibility to do something special"

Host Team Situation

The host team's net session on recently was temporarily interrupted by the possibility of bad weather

The hosts are expected to give a debut to opener Jack Weatherald, with yet to debut pace bowler Doggett also being included due to health issues to captain Pat Cummins and fellow seamer Hazlewood