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The tourists have maintained flexibility for the series opener by naming slow bowler Shoaib Bashir in a 12-man squad combined with five pace bowlers

Mark Wood is declared fit and appears likely to feature versus the Aussies in Western Australia on the coming Friday, with the last selection likely between off-spinner Bashir and seamer Brydon Carse

Pitch Conditions

If the visitors select an fast bowling unit - four dedicated bowlers plus multi-skilled player the captain - it would arguably be the quickest collection of pacemen they have fielded in an Ashes Test in Australia

On Wednesday local groundsman Isaac McDonald commented to expect "fast and bouncy conditions" from the pitch at the stadium, and it looks possible England will adhere to a established strategy of an fast bowling focus

But the visitors have also spotted a lack of moisture to the surface, bringing Bashir into the running

Slow Bowling Factors

During the brief existence of this venue - five prior matches have been staged here - Australia spin bowler Lyon is the most successful bowler with 29

The English management have favored Shoaib, twenty-two, as their first-choice spinner for since last year and in May he became the most youthful English bowler to attain half-century of wickets in Tests

But he has missed a official match following securing the concluding scalp in a thrilling win over India in the third Test at Lord's in recently

Recent Challenges

He has been recovering from a broken finger and struggled in the sole practice game against the development squad, recording match figures of 2-151 from his bowling spell

This creates the prospect of the spinner competing in an Ashes Test without being attached to a first-class side

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

Expected Selection

However, an English side including Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, leader Stokes and Carse - every one of them are likely to hit 90 miles per hour - remains the expected conclusion

The first Test starts at 02:20 GMT on Friday, with live text coverage, Test Match Special commentary and live action clips provided

Team Selection

Team lineup for series opener: Duckett, Zak Crawley, Pope, Root, Brook, Ben Stokes (leader), Smith (wk), Atkinson, Carse, Wood, Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Historical Context

Although 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 same team

The team that won at domestically in the famous series of 2005 contained Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Illingworth's winning English side to Australia in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the visiting team that succeeded in those seasons contained Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Modern Context

In this instance - one of the most eagerly anticipated Test series in recent memory - England are hoping to overturn an difficult past - they have failed to win a Test match in the host country since that year

Just five players of the sixteen-player group have played a Test in Australia, but Atkinson states that could benefit the English team

"This might be an positive," he told media outlets

"There are a numerous athletes who have mentioned they have had challenging periods in this country

"For us, we are a very relaxed, very positive team

"No negative experiences

"It's very exciting

"We all see it as a massive chance to do something special"

Host Team Situation

The Australian net session on Wednesday was briefly delayed by the risk of storms

The home side are likely to give a debut to opener Jack Weatherald, with new seamer Doggett also joining following injuries to captain Pat Cummins and teammate Josh Hazlewood