So Paul Collingwood is going to bat at No 4 for England. About time. Up to now, Collingwood has been looking after himself rather than the interests of his team by staying at five, while Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell have been taking the flak above him. Now, at last, he's going to take some responsibility.

He should have been putting his hand up to bat at three or four, especially with Kevin Pietersen injured. After Andrew Strauss he is England's senior batsman and he's been hiding at five. He owes England a match-winning hundred; perhaps then he'll deserve the MBE he collected for scoring seven and ten four years ago.

The problem for Collingwood is that Australia have exposed his dodgy technique again. Fair enough, he has those qualities as a scrapper and battler, but with Pietersen out of the side, that isn't enough for the main man in the middle order. Apart from his innings in Cardiff and a freebie fifty at Lord's, he's been all at sea this series.

I'm not having a go for the sake of it. But cricket is a tough game and it annoys me to see experienced players not taking responsibility. Young batsmen should be eased into a side. Look at Australia, where Marcus North is at six and the senior guys are above him. If Bopara had been at five, he might have had a chance.

England have to go in with an aggressive mindset and pick match-winners today. The bowling attack will be crucial. So far they have only taken 20 wickets in one Test out of four. To do so again, they must choose guys with a track record of bowling out teams and taking five or six wickets an innings themselves.

Strauss will have been like an India rubber man last night, crossing his fingers, toes and every other part of his body in the hope that Freddie Flintoff doesn't have a relapse with his knee. With Flintoff, I would go with Stephen Harmison, James Anderson and both spinners, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar.

Flintoff and Harmison should take the new ball. They can give the attack pace and aggression, they are the pair who Shane Watson and Simon Katich would least like to face. The ball starts to swing when the lacquer has come off after 15 or so overs. That's when I'd be looking to bring Anderson into the game.

Stuart Broad would be unlucky to miss out and I think Graham Onions has a future with England. But, as I've said in this column before, Onions takes some stick unless conditions are in his favour, and there's no guarantee of that at the Oval. Harmison is more likely to help to win England the game. To me, Swann is in a bit of danger again. Like Collingwood, he has sneaked under the radar a little bit when others have copped the criticism. I think he has been OK, and he's bowled brilliantly at times, but he hasn't produced the goods with conditions in his favour and his figures don't stack up.

The second innings at Edgbaston sums up his series for me. He bowled Ricky Ponting with a real beauty, but England went into that final day expecting to go 2-0 up and Swann didn't strike again. I thought he was pretty ordinary, because the pitch was turning. And he didn't look like taking a wicket at Headingley at all.

In fact, he hasn't really done anything since the second innings at Lord's. I've just checked the scorecards and his combined figures for the past two Tests are two for 187. He will know that he needs to step up when the chips are down, not just when it is easy against the West Indies left-handers.

For England to win, they will have to score enough runs at a quick enough rate to leave themselves time to take the wickets they need. Strauss can't just allow his side to bat on and on and on. If they do that, it means they could be in the field for nearly three days, putting huge pressure on Flintoff's knee.

Australia, on the other hand, will want to keep Flintoff out there for as long as they can, making him bowl four or five spells. If I were Strauss, and I was lucky enough to win the toss, I'd look to score about 450 by lunch or half an hour after on the second day and declare straight away. He has to take that gamble.

There's been a great response to my six-point plan to improve the game, which I outlined in The Times on Monday. I've had calls, messages and e-mails from all over the world from people supporting my idea of scrapping 50-over cricket in favour of Twenty20, including England and Australia players. So, it's over to the powers that be . . .