I think it's naive to think Trott should come in simply because he was the reserve batsman at Leeds. The situation has changed, England are now firm underdogs in the series whereas they were favourites prior to Headingley. Trott's an even greater unknown quantity than Ramps at the test level; Ramps has scored runs against Australia in the past. I think it would be a bigger risk throwing a debutant into the side than giving Ramprakash a chance for one test of potential glory.

But whether they choose to go with Ramps or not, he can't possibly do worse than Bell and Bopara, especially after seeing they county scores yesterday.

Mike, good post, but perhaps some of the points you raise apply more to the long term than for this one-off Test. Irrespective of whether (G)ramps succeeds or fails, he is not likely to figure in the reckoning for long. Even Flintoff needs team runs on the board if he is to win the game for England; and on current evidence, a line-up of Strauss, Trescothick, Cook, Ramprakash looks much better than Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Bell. Not sustainable longer-term perhaps (Tresco's sad problems and Ramprakash's age and temperament come in the way), but surely imperative for this must-win, one-off event?

Regardless of what happens in the last test, England have already lost the Ashes. It is not that the Aussies are without problems. Brett Lee was out, Mitchell Johnson hit a trough, they have no decent spinner, but nobody has ever thought about recalling McGrath or Warne! It just shows you which team is weaker.

Mark Rampraksh...when did i fist hear this name..??early 90s i think when i was at school...the first thing i noted was the west-indian combo name.To be honest since he never played consistantly at international level,i have never watched him bat(like most others outside England)....interesting to hear he is the strongest contender for an emergency fix now in 2009...

Mike, your points are all very valid. But the very immediate order of business & focus is to win the fifth test. Who would you thrust into the pressure cooker situation - an untested novice in Trott or a battle hardened veteran in Ramps? It's nothing to do with romance, show me a better in-form batsman today, and he'd get my vote. If at all you still insist on Trott, then play both.

Maybe England erred on his second coming,when they pushed him back up to three when yet another three failed. At that time he was by far the best number 6 in the world. Just look at his record at number six before they stuffed him out of sight at the last minute. People like Ramps need consistency and comfort of their role, I doubt that Ramps ever had that from most of the selectors, it seemed to me he was always one game away from the axe, when he needed at least four. I think the best test innings I ever saw was his 80 at Perth after being flown in from India, that proved how good he was. It was brilliant and indeed he was a mile above everyone else in the game on that day.

I would pick the two players with the soundest of techniques and who are under the age of 25. They would have nothing to lose and can play without any fear. Trott might end up wincing more in the glare than Ramprakash.

Couldn't agree more. Picking Ramps will reek of panic, and I can't see it as a solution to their problems. To be honest, I think Rob Key is a better bet at the moment. But Australia is definitely enjoying this selection panic.

Haha, Ponting told this theory before the 4th test match itself that the English line up is such a fragile one. How many centuries have been scored before this 4th Tedst Match by each country? That should have given the selectors some indication as to where the Test Series is heading. Someone should have taken action that time rather than panicking now. Why are these people brought into contention in the first place (except the case of Ramp cause he is old and obviously Thres)? Are they better than the current ones? If so, why did they not play in the first place? Who is the final deciding authority and what are they basing their selection on? Why did people laugh (or do nothing) when Shane Warne repeatedly warn the English that Bopara don have international class? Collingwood who has temperment has problems with the outswingers. I seriously don think KP would have had a chance either. No wonder KP is the hero of this team. Does this team really hav a quality middle order?Laughable...

I think Ramps will play well, if he knows this is a one off situation.There is no question of having to "prove himself".Also, he is an unknown quantity for all these bowlers and would give them something to think about. England needs presence in the middle order in K.P.'S absence and one cannot see Trott providing that on his debut.

The important point to note with Ramps is who he's been scoring runs against, Leicestershire, Glamorgan, Middlesex and Derbyshire, none of which are exactly Test quality. Trott, on the other hand, is averaging 90 in the 1st division. Trott is 28, nearing the peak for most batsmen, and is in good form. We don't know he'll freeze under the pressure, like we do with Ramps.

Whoever gets the place should be a long term selection, England need a solid side for the winter tour and now is not the time for chopping and changing. The selectors have to get out of an Ashes-centric viewpoint.

One final point, the current selectors have given debuts to 6 players, none of them have been batsmen. That is why they've suddenly hit a headless chicken moment and are frantically trying to think of people that the know who know which end of the bat to hold.

Ramps is a class batsmen when the pressure's off, as it generaly is in county cricket. He has been exceptionally prolific over the last few seasons, except for the short period when the pressure was on when he reached 99 test hundreds. Ashes cricket will bring out the worst in him again. Don't know who we can pick, doesn't seem to be anybody who could do the job apart from Trescothick, who's been ruled out already.

Do you remember when England were all out for 46 against the West Indies? They came back with virtually the same team and won in Barbados for the first time in 60-70 years. The panic is ridiculous. Granted that Bopara's place is very shaky, but calling up Ramprakash, with a suspect temperament and currently scoring easy runs in Division 2, into the pressure cooker atmosphere of an Ashes Test Match is not going to help. Of course it's must-win match, but panic and making wholesale changes are not the ways to approach it. And there is life beyond the Ashes, since South Africa and India are set to be numbers 1 and 2 in the world. We still need to determine who are our best batsmen in the long term outside the current team. It certainly won't be Ramprakash or Trescothick.

But i totally disagreee with what u have commented about Ramps. I think he has within him to help england regain the ashes . One of the main reason behind this is the tonnes of county experience which he has under his belt and the passion that a player has within him to play for his country is there and that too a crunch match like ashes decider.I am totally in favour of recalling back ramps for the forthcoming ashes match . Don't forget that at present england needs a player who can bat at no. 3 position which is the key position in test match and none of the present player are performing upto mark at this position. And ramps has performed xcellent in the county circuit for the last 4 yrs and this year it has been a dream run for him as his average has been over 100 and performance is key for selection into the national side and he deserve a place in the national team.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And one most important thing that you probably didn't pay attention while writing this article is that Cricket is a game of uncertainty. Irrespective of how he performed earlier,we can never be sure how he is going to perform now. It takes just one ball to get a batsman out.Ramprakash is the best batsman in England on the basis of form who is not playing test cricket. You can't just rule him out because he didn't perform earlier. My good wishes are with him

Ramprakash is possibly the most inform and best batsman in England at the moment. The current test batting is pretty pathetic and if one of the best batters in England is not in it due to age, there is something very wrong. Hope sanity prevails and England play Ramps. I back him to make a ton.

Its interesting how much cricket differs from other sports when it comes to the factors influencing selection, or at least to the importance attributed to each factor.

Talent, temperament, fitness, form, continuity and development. Each a factor in selecting for just about any team game.

Why is it though that in cricket there seems to be such a heavy weighting attached to the importance of continuity, forward planning, and development? In other sports, take football as an example, if you were picking a team to play the world cup final tomorrow (surely a reasonable comparison to an Ashes series deciding test match) you would pick the best eleven players available in line with the preferred balance of the side.

Why, in cricket, is so much emphasis given when selecting a team for the current match on whether a particular player is going to play in one taking place months into the future?

Not sure that answers the question as to whether Ramprakash is the best pick or not.

I don't get this idea that bringing someone back like Ramps would be a sign of panic. Aren't we already panicking?! Getting someone back like Ramps would be unusual but the worst that could happen is we fail to get back the Ashes, a situation we are currently in anyway. He has a good record against the Aussies as well - averaging nearly twice what Bell averages against them, with a century - at The Oval - to boot. The Bell-Bopara experiment hasn't worked throughout this series - and Bell's failure to run out Ponting after the Aussie captain had given up the run could also be seen as a crucial black mark against his name. Perhaps get Key and Ramps in along with Sidebottom (we really need to sort out our bowling attack). We need another good bowler. Broad was flattered at Headingley - he's not a frontline bowler and Swann is also struggling. I'd say one or the other, but not both...

All of the comments about England having to look at the long term and consistency are valid but I feel should not prevail on this occasion. At the moment, the Ashes is the holy grail of English cricket and it brings the country together from a cricketing perspective. Winning back the ashes will do wonders for the public support for the game and will help keep test cricket as a whole in England. Therefore, this match should definitely be treated as a one off cup final. So for that reason, pick the person who is most likely to deliver the goods for this match. Whether that be Ramps or Key. Either one of these players will do better at no.3 than any of the batsmen in the current squad. Yes Trott will feel disappointed to be overlooked, however he should be blooded into the international scene on a tour, where there isnt quite as much pressure as a home ashes series.

Aww come on, you didn't have to do that. The entire article made a lot of sense until you reached the last sentence. Fred is a great player but it is ridiculous to say what you did. He could have bad days, he isn't God. Ramps could make one heck of an opportunity out of this, score some important runs. You can't just rule that out, can you? Especially with Fred coming back from an injury and (I heard Alec Stewart say) Ramps averages 91 in the last 4 years in the county circuit. If Fred can't do it, others can step up.

It's unfortunate that the whole debate around changes for The Oval, and perhaps beyond, are focusing on just a handful, if that, of well known names. Whilst as a Sussex supporter I could be accused of favouritism, rather like Alec Stewart et al calling for Ramprakash, I find it hard to look past Luke Wright and Ed Joyce. Both have had excellent seasons, and both have England experience. You can say what you like about the Ashes/international Test match cricket being a different kettle of fish, but in the end all England cricketers come from the county game. Wright, in particular, has stepped up in a number of the big games he has been involved in during his career to date. Whilst he may be more of a like-for-like replacement for Collingwood, his bowling has come on massively this season in the championship, and many of us now feel that, as well as being an excellent fielder and a growing force as a batsman, he can also offer a captain something as both an impact and long haul bowler.

I agree ... Ramp could be the superman here to save england from losing Ashes. BUT
He will be under lot of pressure (if selected) to perform and maintain his average of 100, mind that, level of english county and test matches r very different and dis too is Ashes.
I have been listening to michael holding and shane warne saying again and again that Bopara is no good for test arena specially batting at 3 even wen he was scoring centuries. without KP and Flintof this eng side looks like a very ordinary test 11 who can not stand against even a non performing aussies.
Now england can go for 2 solutions. Short term in terms of selecting Ramp or long term with persisting Bophara.
The chances of eng winning or even drawing dis last test are very neive, almost 20%.

The reason, I believe, Ramps tended to freeze at test level is probably due to his west-Indian background;sounds crazy but it's true. Windies cricketers in the past tends to buckle under pressure unlike the aussies. Mark if you are reading this and you do get selected, this is your only chance to finally get rid of the gremlins inside you. I have seen you bat against the windies when you made 150 plus and you were magnificent.You just need to tell yourself the aussie bowlers are the 'terrorists' who are trying to 'destroy' your beloved England. Use the 'Richards gum chewing arrogance technique' when batting against these Aussies.With a west-indian background are you going to let them get the better of you? You need to think of it as a war.

I completly agree with everything you say about Ramps and the differeces with the previous recalls. Who should be chosen, Trott who plays for Ashley Giles Warickshire and is presumably not overweight regardless of his unproven talent. Trescothick is the man if the selectors engage their brains with Rob Key next in line for such a crunch game.

Why this obsession that Raamprakash can only be called up for one game! Has anyone asked him if he would tour this winter? He is fitter than Shah and Key, has not retired from international cricket, so if his form warrants re-selection, then pick him. He might provide 12-18 months cover until Bopara matures and also against much of the dross bowling around the world, he might just give his average a certain degree of respectability (look what Gooch did between the ages of 36 and 40) and Ramprakash could definitely play on another 3 seasons if he wanted to!

You state that Ramprakash thrives when he is ''the acknowledged top dog, the No. 1, the composite of Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker and James Bond who will always save the day....'' In my view it is precisely this element to his temperament that means he will succeed at The Oval. The fact that the selectors have turned to him will give him the feeling ''top dog'' mentality that will spur him on to succeed. If selected, and I am yet to be convinced that the selectors will be brave enough, he will have nothing to lose whereas Trott still has everything to gain. Psychologically Ramps couldn't be in a better place.

guys i think england should pick up ian botham he might save the TITANIC.well that too only if botham would like to be on the firing line,please england for a change just face the reality you guys are not playing against 2 nd grade zimbabwe team,you are up against australians and the situation is who will bring the meat out of the mouth of LION who is hungry since 2005,you bet none of the english men can do.so take a chill pill n send in all your kids.atleast you will have something to say in the end as usual.

Dont panic.Drop Bopora to 5.Move Bell to 3 and Collinghood to 6. Bring Freddy bac in for Harmison.Then tell the Aussies to bring it on.Threat M.Jonson with little or no respect since his low on confidence so the other bowlers have bowl longer spells thus u wearing down their whole pace attack.

I wish that Mike fails in this prediction, about ramps, too.. as his previous prediction about him.

Not sure whether Ramprakash should be picked but to use the argument that he is not a long term pick is illogical as Flintoff is retiring after this game...pick the best team, the future will look after its self

England need not have to panic for the following reasons: 1. they had a narrow escape at cardiff, the series should have been standing at 2-0 instead of the 1-1.
2. Eng didnt win in Lords because they played very well, they just played ok and it was Aussies who dig there own grave in Lords.
3. At Leeds Aussie showed there true colors and brought out Englands true colors out.
So, the point here is whom ever England brings in, it can be Botham or Gatting or Nasser or Ramps or Hicks or Tresco, Eng will not win if Aussie play there normal game. Chance for Englang to win is only when aussies dont play well. so, instead of panicing Eng should just stabilize what they have in there squad.
All the talks of brining in retried players and players in 40 gives more confidence only to Aussies.
If at all they want to bring in Ramps, they should field him in the warmup match against ausses and for sure he will perform on par with Ravi/Bell.

If the England sele tors have got ANY sense at all - and we have long since despaired of that - they will ask themselves -'Who would the Australians LEAST like to see in the England team?'
Certainly not the 'walking wicket' of Ian Bell, nor the junior Ravi Bopara. The batsman that they have always respected, for having in their own words 'Ticker', is Robert Key.
But since he is the choice of Duncan Fletcher, the selectors will keep sticking their heads in the sand, blithely pronouncing that they see better than anybody else.

I think Ramps should have been selected much earlier. The guy is in the form of his life for last 4 years. Scoring centuries at will. scoring at a much better average then almost all of the players in county. Whether he saves the game or not, he deserves a chance. And yes, Ramps for PM.

bring back botham, willis, gooch.

I usually disagree with you Mike, but on this I have to agree. Please do not bring back Ramprakash.

There's however one note I'd like to make. Doesn't the cry for a return of Ramprakash to the test arena only goes to show how desparate the England side is & how tame the competition for international cricket in England is?

England should indeed be looking forward and blood some younger players in. Who knows what happens? Look at what happened to the Australian attack after a few matches? Would you have thought Hilfenhaus & Siddle would be shining like they do right now a year back?

I remember Mark when he failed at North Melbourne in Victorian District Cricket about 15 years ago.
He did more damage to the lockers with his bat than he did to any bowler. Not good enough...

If KEY (test average 31) is so good how come he hasnt been picked for years? RAMPRAKASH (test average 27) a comeback at 40 what a joke (good test allrounders average more with the bat), talk about sending out negatives to the Aussies via panic. Drop BOPARA and COLLINGWOOD, play BELL as an opener with COOK (gives you the left hand/right hand thing) STRAUSS at 3, this assuming FLINTOFF is fit. Every time BELL walks out to bat England are already in trouble (particularly with BOPARA at 3!), TROTT deserves his chance as much as anyone. One debacle doesnt suddenly make them a bad XI, bring Freddie the matchwinner back plus one other change thats all

The words pathetic and humiliating spring to mind. The clamour to include Ramprakash, a near 40 year old test failure, and Trescothick, who has a mental illness when subjected to pressure, is simply astonishing. All the side splitting laughter coming from the Aussie camp cannot be doing Brett Lee's muscle injury any good. To submit to such panic would be a sure sign of our supine nature & that the game is up. Whilst I believe Bopara will come again, having him at No.3 risks having two wickets down very early & exposing the middle order. The most obvious choice is to have Key at no.3 as Trott is a good player but not a no.3 and hence you may as well play Bopara, who probably has more nature talent anyway. I would consider Bell at 6 and our most successful attacking batsman, Prior, at 4 as we need to take the initiative to Australia. Who would have thought a 39 year old playing 2nd division cricket, with a poor test record, would be elevated to 'saviour' status?

As others have said, this is a one-off, sudden death, winner takes all match. A draw is no good, we have to win.

Bopara and Bell are in a hopeless state and simply won't be mentally up for this match. Replace them with Key and Ramprakash respectively. In fact, open with Key and Cook, put our best batsman (Strauss) in at first drop and play Ramps at 4. At least there's some fight and depth about the top 4 then.

I'd persist with Broad, but someone needs to drum into his head the virtues of line and length. Harmison is borderline; it all depends what the pitch/weather is like and what Harmison turns up.

If it's dry and sunny, play Harmison; if the forecast is cloudy and dull play Sidebottom. Swann stays in, so does Anderson (as long as he's fully fit). That's our best chance of a win, in my view.

When England could bring Bearley back for the "Botham" Ashes series then why not Ramps... Ramps coming in with all this fanfare might actually reduce the pressure on Fred and the other batsmen.

A very good article. I agree with the reasons for not bringing back Ramprakash. He is done and dusted at the top level so let him be.

Ramprakash has frozen at the highest level and thats a fact!! His experience is zilch considering his runs have been scored in the nice relaxed environs of county cricket. If he has not done it all his career, how can he turn it on for this one test and if bringing him back now is justified and he scores a century in each innings to bring the Ashes back, then why not keep him till he is 45?

The fact remains that England inability to blood youngsters is showing now. All you have as replacements to Bell(who should never have been there in the first place) and Bopara(who should be continued with because this is first real run in the team) are Key and Ramprakash.

And if you bringing back Ramprakash then why not Alec Stewart, Darren Gough and David Gower. At least they have good test records to show!!

there is too much speculation about ramprakash the reason given is that he has failed to fullfill the promise and he is now 39 now but we all know age is of no matter in modern day game and secondry its not neccessary if ramprakash has failed before he will fail now i would love too see him play for 2 to three years by the time he is 42 0r 43 and by that time england will have somebody to support strauss,cook and peterson. So it is right time for Ramparakash to return

PLEASSSSEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! I don't believe most you here are cricket fans. You are just imposters! Australia have lost there "Aura" the greats of McGrath,Warne,Hayden,Langer. Lee injured, Johnson in a rutt, Pointing and Hussey a shadow of their former self and a bunch of new guys and they didn't call Langer back who by the way resides in Engand when Hughes failed, didn't fly in Mcgrath or Warne. So England show some faith in your players or is it that you finally realize what most people already know. YOU HAVE NO GOOD ONES TO COUNT ON. I say Pick Trott drop Bopara, put Bell at 3(Nothing to lose)and find that confidence you had at the start of the series, because even if you recall Ramps you still gonna lose the Ashes because you already lost it from your negative ways of thinking

ECB never seems to stick with a familiar pool of players. Constantly shuffling the players will make players feel less secure and less confident. After all, at the end of the day, they too are employees making a hard-earned buck. In order to succeed, my suggestion would be for ECB to have faith in their current squad and to stick with good players. It always seems to me that ECB does away with good players rather quickly - all players have good and bad seasons.

Even though I am not a English cricket follower but even I can recall names ECB seems to have wasted over the years. For comparison purposes, check out the current Indian or South African squad and sum up the number of matches they have played and the similarity in their line up and compare it against that of England.

so Freddie can be picked for the last Test even though he's not a long-term prospect, but Ramps can't be given another go at the Aussies even though he's always played well against them at Perth and at the Oval? Ramps scored a 150 against an Aussie attack consisting of McGrath, Gillespie, Lee and Warne.
DOUBLE STANDARDS!

Time and again throughout the 90s and early 2000s Ramprakash was picked for England on the basis that he was far and away the best county batsman. Time and again he failed at Test level and had to be dropped. Each time he got better at county level so got picked again. Each time he failed at Test level. Nothing has changed. He hasn't been picked for 7 years for very good reason.

933 runs at an average of 42 against Aus - and a better Aus than we have now at that - not so much a failure really? 1 century against Aus as opposed to Trescothic's 0...

I guess,It's time of Rob Key for another chance as Kevin is out for few months with injury, Ravi is just out of nick....he could probably come back soon into the team. So, England need an experienced batsman in the wings for their middle order woes. May be Rob Key is better option considering he could play future series and he has fuel to do it for another 4,5 years in test cricket if he can grab the chance with both hands.Ramps can play this test there is nothing wrong in that but, it will send few messages across the world about their cricket.
1. About their panic selection. Australia too have had their problems with the selections from last 2,3 series but they are fairly very consistent.
2. They are so desperate to WIN ASHES(how many times they won ashes since 1989, ONLY ONCE) and they don't bother about winning other ICC major events. I would love to see ENGLAND build a strong team which can perform with stronger teams( NOT with WI) outside ENGLAND too and win series. GOOD LUCK.

I fear Ramps may be recalled to appease an increasingly volatile media and public, who, as ever, contend with a desperate situation with desperate logic.
It is true that Ramps likes to be the main man. Moreover, he is like a concert pianist in his approach to batting: he needs a comfort level - exactly what he was constantly denied at test level - in order to flourish. His batting is far more of a craft than it was to Hussain and Thorpe, who would throw technique out of the window if it helped them stay in on a dodgy pitch.
The fact is, Ramps has ALWAYS scored millions of county cricket. In the 1990s, he'd score a double century for Middlesex, get picked for England, go into his shell and grind out a tortured 14. Does no-one remember?
I think England need to stick with the same batting line-up. In the first 3 tests, they were not bowled out for less than 376 - surely you don't sack half the time and bring back previously unsuccessful relics because of one bad game?

Ramprakash yes he should play for england but not for last oval test in this ashes he should be given chance from 1st test now if selectors give him chance for last test ponting&co.will target him because he been talking subject for last two weeks or so if i were rams i would have said no to selectors and i would have asked yes give me chance to play but from begining not fron end.

Bringing in Ramps at 3 for a one off test is probably not sending the best signals out to the Aussies. Especially considering he doesnt have the best record against Australia (Who can forget the swipe across the line against Warne to get stumped). At times when schumacher is being called in for ferarri and Dravid to counter the short ball, it isnt surprising that we're seeing all the talk about bringing Ramps back into the fold of things..Strauss and Miller (and Alec Stewart) keep saying "put aside sentiment and pick the best side"..if thats how it was at Leeds, thats the way it should be at the Oval and alhough I dont have an idea of how Trott plays (apart from the impressive average). If he was the reserve batsman for Leeds, surely nothing could have damaged his credentials so much in 2 weeks to have him out of the scheme of things in such a hurry.

Ramps MUST play in the Oval test.
Forget his age; he is fit and by far the best batsman in English county cricket over the last 3 years.The stats prove that and he will be playing on his home ground. I have no doubt that he will not let us down should the selectors have the courage to pick him. Its also time for Bell to go...he has had too many chances and never taken them...possibly Trott although its a tough ask for someone to make their dehbut in such an imprtant game.

ramps should have been playing for the last 3 years! and ramps should be playing in the final test! no questions.. selectors have made a grave error not having him in for the last 3 year.. dont lose him for the ashes final

Interesting, as per your 'about me' page, that you hate Middlesex and want them to be defeated by Yorkshire.
No wonder you don't want Ramps purely based on your biased mindset for Middlesex County Cricket....My friend, Yorks will bever be in Final for next 20 year. Watch it from hell?

[Mike: I don't hate Middlesex at all. I've been a member for nearly 30 years. They just come second to Yorkshire, where I was brought up.]

And I forgot to say, Ramprakash scored 2 centuries in 96 Test innings. That's one less than Bopara has got in 15.

WE ALL LOVE A FAIRYTALE..C'MON!!! Ramps is in the form of his life and England know that they are failing due to a frail middle order. This is an ideal situation for Mark Ramprakash to come in and try and win a game for England and the hearts of the English fans. Helping England win the Ashes will make up for a dissappointing international career.

God I would laugh all the way to the SCG if Ramps bagged a King Pair in the 5th test.

You may be right, Mike, or, pun intendedly, may not be right. Ramps can make a mark to show how wrong the selectors have been all these years. I hear that he has been in good form for his county for many years, but never ever he was considered in the last 3-4 years. What happened to Mike Vaughan? All have forgotten this guy who was still a contender before this series! Why not Robert Key? this 'test' quality player was recently in England's T20 team!! Its such a shame that England cant find someone younger and have to think of Ramps who was ignored long, long time ago. How can England selectors expect wonders from him.
Whether he plays or not, whether he succeeds or not, one thing is sure. England's cricketing ideology is stinking.
By the way, England would have been in a different position had they bowled first at Headingley. Well, this was my original thought on first day morning itself, I am not saying this now that England team has been completely battered by the Aussies.

I am a neutral observer here but i think both the English and australians make much ado about nothing.England need fresh and young blood in the team instead of going back to the has-beens like they did in 1976 bringing old man Close needlessly.Bring in a fresh young face like Stuart Broad and play attacking cricket.

If Ramps can be brought back, how far away are we from Boycott return? I'm sure Boycs could stand out there for a few more balls than the current middle order.

I think the outcome of the 5th Test is simple to predict.Whoever wins the toss will bat,and if they post 500+ game over. The side batting second will only be able to draw.The Oval always favours Batsmen, so if Australia win the toss, it does not matter who England pick we will be chasing the game!

i am sure Ponting will be smiling if he ever reads all the comments. i am sure that the selectors will have greater sense than some of the readers, many of whom I am sure mean well. Yes this is perhaps the most important test that England has played for four years but clearly this has to be part of an over all plan for the future. Perish the thought of playing Ram prakash or trescothick. These guys are over the hill and are not the answer to England'w woes. England must play Trott, not Bell or Bopara, both of whom seem so edgy and clearly out of their depth. I do hope that Flintoff will be fit and can play for England , for England desperately needs a change of mood if not of form. Actually this is not the australian team of old, so it is not as though it will be a cake walk for them either. But I still believe australia have their noses in front and all the panic that is currently happening in england can only put them further ahead,
Sridhar