England take Mark Wood gamble in Ashes first Test squad

Mark Wood looks set to start the opening Ashes Test for England against Australia as part of a five-man pace attack after being named in the 12-man squad.

X-factor bowler Wood has faced a race against time to prove his fitness after undergoing surgery earlier this year. He recovered enough to travel Down Under but only completed eight overs of the warm-up match against England Lions at Lilac Hill before tweaking his hamstring.

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However, a scan on the issue came back all clear earlier this week and that has set him up to be part of an all-seam attack, providing he can properly prove his fitness in the nets over the next 48 hours.

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Your 12-player England Ashes squad for the first Test in Perth 📋

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The seam-friendly nature of the pitch at Optus Stadium in Perth has made this a viable strategy and with key Australian bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood ruled out of the first Test, the opportunity is there for the tourists to be aggressive and go all out for the win.

Wood is set to start as part of a bowling unit alongside fellow pacemen Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson and Ben Stokes. It would be the fastest bowling attack England have put out in recent memory, with the absolute fastest of those – Wood and Archer –having only ever played one Test together before.

Shoaib Bashir is also in the squad but seemingly slated for 12th man duties (barring Wood failing a late fitness test), given the nature of the Perth pitch and his struggles in recent times.

There’s no place for Will Jacks in the 12-man squad, so the mooted idea of him being selected to extend the batting line-up, and provide a part-time spin option, has been discounted. As expected, Ollie Pope has seen off Jacob Bethell, so will take the No 3 spot in the batting line-up behind openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett.

England have not won a first Ashes Test in Australia in nearly 40 years, nor beaten the hosts in Perth since 1978 and not won a single Test Down Under since their triumphant 2010-11 series. However, hopes are high this could be the time to end the drought

England’s 12-player squad for the first Ashes Test:

Ben Stokes (c)

Jofra Archer

Gus Atkinson

Shoaib Bashir

Harry Brook

Brydon Carse

Zak Crawley

Ben Duckett

Ollie Pope

Joe Root

Jamie Smith (wk)