What are your thoughts on the England squad?

No real surprises. We expected Ravi Bopara to make way and Jonathan Trott to come in for his debut. It is a big show of faith in Trott, given that he has played very little international cricket and given that this is the biggest game of Test cricket in this country for four years. It smacks a little bit of bad planning from the selectors, that for such a big game they are having to pick a guy who has not been involved at all really.

Is the decision to leave Ravi Bopara out of the squad the right one?

I would have tried to keep faith with Bopara if at all possible because I believe you find out most about players at times like this. But if Andy Flower looked into Bopara's eyes and felt he needed to be withdrawn from the firing line then, fair enough, it is probably the humane thing to do. But if that didn't happen, I would have tried to keep faith with him.

Were the selectors right to ignore calls to include Mark Ramprakash?

They were never going to pick Ramprakash because had they picked him they would have made themselves look silly. If he had done well at The Oval the selectors would have looked silly because people would have asked why he hasn't been in the side for the past five years.

Equally if he had done badly they would have looked even sillier because they would have given in to pressure from the media and the public. It was never an option for them.

Was Robert Key more unlucky to miss out?

I would probably have gone for Key over Trott if a change was going to be made. I would have wanted someone with a bit of Test experience in there. Key is in good form and he strikes me as someone who is a fairly unflappable character. Temperament is going to be extremely important over the five days.

What about the recall of Monty Panesar, do you expect him to be involved?

Panesar's inclusion is designed to give Andrew Strauss as many options as possible. The Oval is a flat pitch but if it is going to be as it has been all year, offering some spin as the match goes on, then England will have the option of a playing an attack with two spinners. Ideally they will not want to play Panesar, they will want a pitch with more pace and bounce and to go in with one spinner. But in depends on conditions.

The Australians will not fear anything about this England side, will they?

Australia will sense an opportunity to expose England's middle order once again, with Ian Bell moving up to No 3, where he hasn't enjoyed that much success. I would like to see Paul Collingwood at No 4 with Trott at five, but the Aussies will sniff a weakness there and will sense that that could be the opening.

But England have had a week off, it's 1-1, it's a huge game. I wouldn't discount England, but Australia will start as firm favourites.