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England have kept their options open for the first Ashes Test by naming off-spinner Shoaib Bashir in a squad of twelve combined with five seamers

Wood is declared fit and is expected to participate facing the hosts in Western Australia on Friday, with the ultimate choice possibly involving the young spinner and fast bowler the seamer

Wicket Factors

If the visitors select an all-pace attack - four dedicated bowlers plus all-rounder Stokes - it would arguably be the fastest group of pacemen they have fielded in an Ashes match in the host nation

Recently local groundsman McDonald commented to look for "speed and bounce" from the pitch at the venue, and it looks possible England will stick to a traditional approach of an pace-only strategy

However the visitors have also spotted a dryness to the wicket, placing the off-spinner into consideration

Spinning Options

In the short history of Perth Stadium - five prior matches have been played here - Australian off-spinner Lyon is the most successful bowler with 29

The English management have supported the young spinner, 22, as their main slow bowler for over twelve months and in recent months he became the least experienced English bowler to achieve half-century of wickets in international Tests

Yet he has not played a first-class game following claiming the final wicket in a exciting triumph over the Indian team in the final Test at the famous ground in July

Recent Challenges

The spinner has been recovering from a hand problem and had challenges in England's only warm-up match against England Lions, returning overall statistics of 2 for 151 from twenty-four overs

This creates the prospect of the spinner participating in an Ashes Test without being attached to a county

His deal at Somerset ended at the finish of the English season

Expected Selection

However, an England team featuring Wood, Archer, Gus Atkinson, captain Stokes and Brydon Carse - every one of them are capable of reaching 90 miles per hour - stays the probable result

The first Test commences at 2:20 AM GMT on the weekend, with live text coverage, expert analysis and in-play highlights provided

Playing Group

Selected players for series opener: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (gloveman), Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Mark Wood, Archer, Shoaib Bashir

Past Experience

While a several England Ashes triumphs at in England and overseas have been constructed around fast bowling, they have not previously used as many express pace bowlers in the equivalent side

The side that triumphed at in England in the memorable competition of 2005 Ashes contained Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff

The captain's triumphant visitors to the host nation in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Lever and John Snow, and the English side that triumphed in that period featured Statham and Tyson

Present Circumstances

On this occasion - potentially the most exciting Test series in recent years - the English team are aiming to reverse an difficult past - they have failed to win a Test in the host country since 2011

Only five members of the extended squad have played a international Test in the host nation, but the bowler states that could help the visitors

"This might be an positive," he explained to reporters

"There are a many cricketers who have mentioned they have had challenging periods here in Australia

"For us, we are a quite calm, extremely confident team

"No scarring

"It's very exciting

"Everyone considers it a huge opportunity to create history"

Australian Preparations

The Australian training on this week was momentarily paused by the possibility of bad weather

The home side are probably going to give a debut to batsman Weatherald, with new pace bowler Brendan Doggett also coming in due to fitness concerns to skipper Pat Cummins and teammate Hazlewood