Online Reporter
ENGLAND have kept their options open for the first Ashes Test cricket by naming off-spinner Shoaib Bashir in a 12-man squad alongside five pace bowlers.
Mark Wood has been passed fit and seems set to play against Australia in Perth tomorrow, with the final decision probably between off-spinner Bashir and seamer Brydon Carse.
If England opt for an all-pace attack – four specialists plus all-rounder Ben Stokes – it would arguably be the fastest group of bowlers they have fielded in an Ashes Test.
Yesterday Western Australia pitch curator Isaac McDonald said to expect “pace and bounce” from the surface at Perth Stadium, and it seems likely England will stick to a long-standing plan of a pace attack.
But the tourists have also noted a dryness to the pitch, bringing Bashir into contention.
In the short history of this venue – five previous Tests have been staged here – Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon is the leading wicket-taker with 29.
England have backed Bashir, 22, as their first-choice spinner for more than a year and in May became the youngest England bowler to reach 50 in Tests.
But he has not played a competitive game since taking the final wicket in a dramatic victory over India in the third Test at Lord’s in July.
Bashir has been out with a broken finger and struggled in England’s only warm-up match against England Lions, returning combined figures of 2-151 from 24 overs.
It also raises the prospect of Bashir playing in an Ashes Test without being attached to a county. His contract at Somerset expired at the end of the home summer.
However, an England team containing Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, captain Stokes and Carse — all of whom are capable of reaching 90mph — remains the most likely outcome.
Although a number of England Ashes triumphs at home and abroad have been built on pace, they have never fielded as many express pace bowlers in the same team.
The side that won at home in the famous series of 2005 included Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff.
Raymond Illingworth’s triumphant visitors to Australia in 1970-71 had Bob Willis, Peter Lever and John Snow, and the England team that won in 1954-55 included Brian Statham and Frank ‘Typhoon’ Tyson.
Perhaps England’s most famous Australian tour of all, the 1932-33 Bodyline series, caused diplomatic tensions between the two countries for a short-bowling plan designed to unsettle the great Don Bradman.
On this occasion – one of the most eagerly anticipated Ashes series in recent memory — England are looking to reverse an awful record — they have not won a Test in Australia in 2011. — BBC Sport
