Ben Hollioake replaces his fellow 20-year-old Andrew Flintoff for the match against Sri Lanka at the Oval, starting on Thursday. The other two whose direct contribution to the England wins over South Africa in the last two Tests was so modest - Graeme Hick and Ian Salisbury - are both retained. John Crawley is named as reserve for Nasser Hussain, who saw a specialist about his groin injury on Saturday and may have a scan today.
If, as expected, Hussain is not completely fit, Hick will bat at three with Crawley at six. That might suit them. Hick has often looked more confident batting for England at three, before any crisis of the kind in which he has too often wilted, has been allowed to develop. He has had his failures at three too, and only one of his four Test hundreds - plus his 98 not out in his last innings against Australia - has been made from his favourite position, but he needs only to impose himself in the way he immediately did in the one-day internationals against Sri Lanka, to justify his retention, for the purposes of this match at least.
Crawley is averaging 64 for his 1,225 runs for Lancashire in first-class cricket this season and has captained them with distinction. In his way he is not much less of an enigma than Hick, but he has responded well to being dropped after making only 45 runs from four innings on the two tricky pitches at Port of Spain earlier in the year.
Stewart, Atherton, Butcher, Hussain, Thorpe and Ramprakash are certainties for the top six batting places in Australia so this could be a final eliminator for the seventh. If Hick wins, England are going to be an experienced batting combination this winter, with four men in their 30s. The decision to leave out Flintoff now means that he can hope for no more than an A tour when the touring teams are picked a week today, although I hope his World Cup potential can be assessed by including him in the side to Bangladesh.
Thursday's final 11 might include Hollioake plus the first-choice fast attack of Gough, Fraser and Cork (in which case Alan Mullally might be released to play for Leicestershire against Nottinghamshire on Wednesday) or, conceivably, four specialist fast bowlers plus Salisbury.
For the only experienced leg-spinner in England - retained in the knowledge that wrist spin is far more likely to win Tests on most surfaces than orthodox finger spin - this game is, in current sportspeak, ``mega''. David Graveney, knowing many a critic would rather have seen Phil Tufnell recalled for another Oval tour de force, spelt it out: ``The time is now. We need Ian Salisbury on his home ground to show his true ability and we are all united in hoping he can do just that.''
It is a measure of Sri Lanka's status that there are no tickets available for the first three days and that the selectors dared not risk playing both of their young prodigies, Hollioake and Flintoff, or offering a trial to Darren Maddy or Mal Loye. Hollioake has so far had only one Test to show whether he can produce the inspirational batting which destroyed Australia in a one-day international at Lord's last year and to confirm the opinion of the England bowling coach, Bob Cottam, that his fast-medium right-arm bowling has genuinely improved.
It was his greater bowling ability which won him the vote, as expected, over Flintoff. He took a timely four for 36 against Derbyshire last week, although that this was easily his best return in a season of modest achievement shows why he could not yet be considered as the all-round support for a balanced attack of two fast and two spin bowlers for those increasingly rare Test venues - Sydney for example - which invariably suit spinners. If he is to improve to that extent by next January, Ben Hollioake needs to play in this game.
ENGLAND 13 (for Test against Sri Lanka): A J Stewart (Surrey, capt/wkt; Age 35, Tests 80); M A Atherton (Lancashire, 30, 84); M A Butcher (Surrey, 26, 13); N Hussain (Essex, 30, 34); J Crawley (Lancashire, 26, 25); M R Ramprakash (Middlesex, 28, 28); G A Hick (Worcestershire, 32, 48); B C Hollioake (Surrey, 20, 1); D GCork (Derbyshire, 27, 24); I D K Salisbury (Surrey, 28, 11); D Gough (Yorkshire, 27, 25); A R C Fraser (Middlesex, 33, 43); A D Mullally (Leicestershire, 29, 9).