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The tourists have kept their options open for the first Ashes Test by naming off-spinner Shoaib Bashir in a twelve-player team combined with five pace bowlers

Mark Wood has been passed fit and is expected to participate facing the hosts in Western Australia on the coming Friday, with the final decision possibly between spinner Bashir and seamer Carse

Pitch Conditions

If the visitors select an fast bowling unit - four dedicated bowlers along with multi-skilled player the captain - it would possibly be the fastest group of seamers they have used in an Test against Australia in this country

Earlier this week WA groundsman the curator said to look for "fast and bouncy conditions" from the pitch at Perth Stadium, and it seems likely the English will follow a traditional approach of an pace-only strategy

Yet the English team have also observed a lack of moisture to the wicket, bringing the spinner into contention

Slow Bowling Factors

Throughout the limited timeframe of Perth Stadium - five earlier Tests have been hosted here - Australian spin bowler Lyon is the top wicket-taker with 29

The team have supported the young spinner, twenty-two, as their main slow bowler for since last year and in spring he was recognized as the most youthful English bowler to achieve 50 wickets in international Tests

Yet he has not played a competitive game after taking the last dismissal in a thrilling win over the Indian team in the third match at the famous ground in summer

Recent Issues

He has been suffering from a hand problem and had challenges in the sole practice game against the Lions, recording overall statistics of two wickets for 151 runs from twenty-four overs

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

The agreement at Somerset concluded at the end of the home summer

Likely Lineup

However, an English side including Mark Wood, Archer, Atkinson, skipper Stokes and Brydon Carse - all of whom are able to achieve 90mph - stays the probable result

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

Playing Group

Team lineup for first Ashes Test: Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Brook, Stokes (leader), Jamie Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Carse, Wood, Archer, Bashir

Past Experience

Although a number of successful Ashes campaigns at home and abroad have been built on pace, they have never fielded as numerous fast bowlers in the same team

The lineup that triumphed at in England in the celebrated contest of 2005 featured Harmison, Jones and Andrew Flintoff

Raymond Illingworth's triumphant visitors to Australia in that era had Bob Willis, Lever and John Snow, and the visiting team that triumphed in those seasons contained Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson

Current Situation

This time around - potentially the most exciting Test series in recent memory - England are looking to reverse an awful record - they have been unable to secure a Test in the host country since 2011

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

"This could represent an benefit," he mentioned to the press

"We've seen a numerous athletes who have stated they have had challenging periods down under

"In our case, we are a quite calm, extremely confident group

"No bad memories

"It's thrilling

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

Host Team Situation

The host team's net session on recently was momentarily paused by the risk of storms

The home side are probably going to provide an opportunity to batsman Weatherald, with new seamer Doggett also coming in after health issues to skipper Cummins and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood