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The tourists have maintained flexibility for the initial Ashes match by naming slow bowler Shoaib Bashir in a twelve-player team together with five seamers

Wood has recovered and appears likely to feature facing the hosts in Western Australia on the coming Friday, with the ultimate choice probably coming down to the young spinner and seamer the seamer

Ground Situation

If the visitors select an fast bowling unit - four main pacers plus multi-skilled player Stokes - it would potentially be the most rapid assembly of seamers they have deployed in an Test against Australia in the host nation

Earlier this week local groundsman McDonald commented to expect "speed and bounce" from the surface at the venue, and it looks possible the tourists will follow a long-standing plan of an fast bowling focus

However the tourists have also observed a lack of moisture to the pitch, putting the spinner into the running

Slow Bowling Factors

In the short history of the ground - five prior matches have been hosted here - Australia spin bowler Nathan Lyon is the top wicket-taker with 29 dismissals

England have supported the young spinner, 22, as their first-choice spinner for more than a year and in May he was recognized as the most youthful English bowler to attain half-century of wickets in Tests

However he has not played a competitive game since claiming the concluding scalp in a dramatic victory over the Indian team in the final Test at Lord's in summer

Current Concerns

The spinner has been suffering from a finger injury and struggled in the sole practice game against England Lions, recording match figures of 2-151 from twenty-four overs

This presents the prospect of him participating in an Ashes Test without being contracted with a domestic team

The agreement at the domestic team ended at the end of the home summer

Probable Team

Nevertheless, an England team containing Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, leader Stokes and Brydon Carse - all of whom are capable of reaching high speeds - remains the expected conclusion

The opening match begins at 2:20 AM GMT on the weekend, with real-time updates, Test Match Special commentary and real-time features provided

England Squad

Selected players for first Ashes Test: Duckett, Crawley, Pope, Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (leader), Jamie Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Wood, Jofra Archer, Bashir

Historical Context

Even though a various successful Ashes campaigns at home and abroad have been founded on quick bowling, they have not previously used as numerous fast bowlers in the identical lineup

The lineup that won at domestically in the memorable competition of 2005 included Harmison, Simon Jones and Flintoff

Raymond Illingworth's winning English side to Australia in that era had Willis, Lever and Snow, and the visiting team that won in that period featured Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Modern Context

On this occasion - one of the most eagerly anticipated England-Australia contests in recent years - the visitors are hoping to change an poor history - they have failed to win a five-day game in the host country since that year

Only five members of the sixteen-player group have experienced a Test match in the host nation, but Atkinson says that could work in England's favour

"It could be an benefit," he explained to media outlets

"We've seen a lot of players who have mentioned they have had some tough times in this country

"In our case, we are a very relaxed, extremely confident group

"No scarring

"It's thrilling

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

Australian Preparations

The host team's practice session on recently was temporarily interrupted by the threat of lightning

The hosts are likely to provide an opportunity to batsman Jack Weatherald, with yet to debut seamer Doggett also coming in due to injuries to skipper Pat Cummins and colleague Josh Hazlewood