All square at oval decider

• England would be targeting the weak links — Jason Gillespie and Matthew Hayden. Indeed, given Gillespie’s form, Australia might not play four pacers at the Oval. Is he a spent force already at 30?

And to a lesser extent, England must ensure Michael Clarke doesn’t get a good score going into the Test series

• Australia, as Shane Warne wrote in a newspaper article, would like to get openers Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss cheaply. If they can get the southpaws for next to nothing, the others will have to face Glenn McGrath with the red cherry at the Lord’s, the toughest act of their careers. Strauss needs to ensure that he gets a good score especially after announcing that Australia has been stripped of its aura of invincibility. And no batsman has scored more runs (519 in eight matches) and hundreds (3) than Trescothick at the Oval

Toss

The substitution rule, teamed up with bowler friendly conditions on both the pitches, have made the toss much more of a gamble. It worked out perfectly for England in the first match where they batted second and could use their ‘specialist batsman’ supersub.

In the second game, batting first, they couldn’t even bring Vikram Solanki in.

No scope for radical use of the new rules because both teams have refrained from picking an all-rounder as the supersub. Both the games would not have gone too differently in the orthodox format.

Oval facts

• In four England-Australia encounters at The Oval, teams batting second have won three times

• Highest score: 253

• In 2001, Australia bowled England out for 176

• In the only match at the venue in the last 10 years between the two sides, three members of the current England squad had forgettable games. Trescothick and Gough got a duck, Collingwood got 9; Gough and Collingwood were collared by Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting conceding 60 runs in 9 combined overs.