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England have kept their options open for the initial Ashes match by including slow bowler the young spinner in a twelve-player team alongside five seamers

The fast bowler has recovered and is expected to participate against Australia in Perth on the coming Friday, with the ultimate choice likely coming down to spinner Bashir and pace bowler the seamer

Pitch Conditions

Should England choose an all-pace attack - four main pacers along with multi-skilled player Ben Stokes - it would potentially be the quickest collection of pacemen they have deployed in an Test against Australia in the host nation

Recently WA pitch curator the curator stated to expect "fast and bouncy conditions" from the pitch at the venue, and it looks possible the tourists will stick to a long-standing plan of an pace-only strategy

Yet the English team have also noted a dryness to the surface, placing the off-spinner into the running

Spinning Options

In the short history of the ground - five previous Tests have been hosted here - Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon is the most successful bowler with 29 dismissals

The English management have backed Bashir, 22 years old, as their primary spin option for more than a year and in May he was recognized as the youngest England bowler to attain half-century of wickets in international Tests

But he has missed a first-class game since securing the last dismissal in a exciting triumph over India in the final Test at the famous ground in July

Recent Issues

The spinner has been out with a broken finger and struggled in the single preparation match against the Lions, returning overall statistics of 2 for 151 from twenty-four overs

This creates the scenario of him playing in an Ashes match without being contracted with a domestic team

The agreement at the domestic team ended at the finish of the English season

Likely Lineup

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

The first Test starts at 2:20 AM GMT on Friday, with real-time updates, Test Match Special commentary and real-time features provided

Team Selection

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

Team Background

Even though a several England Ashes triumphs at domestically and internationally have been constructed around fast bowling, they have not previously used as numerous fast bowlers in the same team

The lineup that won at home in the memorable competition of 2005 Ashes included Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Raymond Illingworth's winning English side to the host nation in those years had Bob Willis, Lever and John Snow, and the English side that succeeded in that period featured Brian Statham and Tyson

Current Situation

This time around - potentially the most exciting England-Australia contests in recent memory - England are looking to reverse an difficult past - they have been unable to secure a five-day game in Australia since 2011

Only five members of the sixteen-player group have participated in a Test in Australia, but Atkinson comments that could benefit the English team

"This could represent an positive," he told the press

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

"For us, we are a quite calm, highly optimistic group

"No bad memories

"It's thrilling

"The entire team views it as a massive chance to create history"

Australian Preparations

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

The home side are expected to give a debut to batsman Weatherald, with new fast bowler Brendan Doggett also coming in after fitness concerns to skipper Pat Cummins and colleague Hazlewood