England have named Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson and James Anderson as the pace bowling unit ahead of the Ashes opener on Friday, with the seam trio selected over fellow paceman Mark Wood.
As Australia's batters practised facing quick bouncers at training on Wednesday afternoon in preparation for a quick attack, England announced an XI that excludes their fastest bowler.
The English side have hinted they want to greet the Australian batters with pace, confirmed by Ben Stokes stating "having the option to have someone who can bowl above 90mph [145kph] is what any captain wants."
England have elected for experience over pace, with Stokes also likely to assist in the seam attack.
Wood has not bowled in the England Test side since last year when he played two Tests during England's 3-0 win in Pakistan. Wood has since been resting an injury with a hope to feature later on in the series.
"I will definitely not play all five," Wood admitted while speaking to reporters during England's ongoing white-ball tour ofย Bangladesh.
"I was delighted to play four out of five in Australia.
"I was knackered, wrecked, exhausted (but) that was a big tick in my box to say that in a big series, I can do it, if Stokesy (Stokes) or Baz (McCullum) want me to play. More than likely, with the bowling stock we have, especially at home, I probably won't even play four.
"They might even want me for one or two, if they need a pace element. He (Stokes) might want to mix it up to keep people fresh, but if people are playing well, I might not play any."
England coach Brendon McCullum has confirmed that Moeen Ali will return to Test cricket at Edgbaston, in his home city of Birmingham.
The off-spinner will play in the Ashes series after regular spinner Jack Leach picked up an injury that will rule him out of the summer.
Ali missed training on Monday to collect an OBE Medal, saying that head coachย McCullum said he was fine to do so having pre-arranged the visit.
The 35-year-old has expressed his surprise at his selection ahead of Friday's Test.
"It's a difficult one for me because I never picked myself. I just got the call," he told reporters.
"Obviously there are players out there that are playing and doing alright, but I think they (England) know me quite well and it's not just having the character and the person in the changing room that you want. The results do matter, the process, the matches. I've got to perform and make some important impacts in the game."
With England confirming their XI, the side will now continue preparations for the first Test of the Ashes Series on Friday.
England XI:ย 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 8 Moeen Ali, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Ollie Robinson, 11 James Anderson.
