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The English side has left decisions open for the first Ashes Test by selecting spin bowler Shoaib Bashir in a 12-man squad together with five pace bowlers

Wood is declared fit and appears likely to feature facing the hosts in Western Australia on Friday, with the ultimate choice probably coming down to spinner Bashir and seamer the seamer

Wicket Factors

Should England choose an fast bowling unit - four dedicated bowlers plus multi-skilled player Stokes - it would possibly be the fastest group of seamers they have deployed in an Ashes match in Australia

On Wednesday WA groundsman McDonald commented to look for "pace and bounce" from the surface at the stadium, and it seems likely the English will stick to a long-standing plan of an pace-only strategy

But the tourists have also noted a dryness to the surface, placing Bashir into consideration

Spin Considerations

Throughout the limited timeframe of this venue - five earlier Tests have been played here - Australian spin bowler Nathan Lyon is the top wicket-taker with 29

England have backed Bashir, 22, as their main slow bowler for since last year and in spring he became the most youthful English bowler to reach half-century of wickets in Tests

But he has not played a competitive game after claiming the last dismissal in a thrilling win over the Indian team in the third Test at the famous ground in summer

Recent Issues

He has been out with a hand problem and struggled in England's only warm-up match against the development squad, posting match figures of 2 for 151 from 24 overs

This presents the scenario of him competing in an Ashes Test without being contracted with a first-class side

His contract at the domestic team expired at the finish of the English season

Expected Selection

Still, an visiting team including Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, captain Ben Stokes and Brydon Carse - all of whom are able to achieve 90mph - continues to be the expected conclusion

The initial game starts at 2:20 AM GMT on the weekend, with live text coverage, expert analysis and real-time features provided

Playing Group

England squad for first Ashes Test: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Root, Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Smith (wk), Atkinson, Carse, Mark Wood, Archer, Bashir

Team Background

While a number of English Ashes victories at in England and overseas have been founded on quick bowling, they have never fielded as many express pace bowlers in the equivalent side

The lineup that won at in England in the memorable competition of 2005 Ashes featured Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Flintoff

Illingworth's triumphant visitors to Australia in those years had Bob Willis, Lever and John Snow, and the visiting team that won in that period contained Statham and Tyson

Present Circumstances

In this instance - one of the most eagerly anticipated England-Australia contests in recent years - the visitors are looking to reverse an awful record - they have failed to win a five-day game in Australia since 2011

Just five players of the extended squad have participated in a Test match in Australia, but the bowler says that could help the visitors

"It could be an advantage," he told the press

"There are a lot of players who have said they have had challenging periods here in Australia

"In our case, we are a quite calm, highly optimistic group

"No bad memories

"It's thrilling

"We all see it as a great possibility to do something special"

Host Team Situation

The Australian practice session on recently was briefly delayed by the possibility of bad weather

The hosts are expected to provide an opportunity to batsman Jack Weatherald, with yet to debut seamer Brendan Doggett also coming in due to fitness concerns to skipper Pat Cummins and colleague Hazlewood