The series has already been decided, but the fourth Test, which starts at Headingley next Thursday, is anything but an anticlimax. Australia desperately want to extend their sequence to 20 wins out of 22, while England's task is to avoid an unprecedented 5-0 home Ashes hammering. Some clear thinking from the selectors, would be a handy start - but don't hold your breath. The squad will be named on Sunday, when England may have to select 14 players because of an injury list that has become a sick joke. Their first-choice middle order - Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan - are all on the verge of returning to the side, but Vaughan's disappointing absence from the current Roses match means he won't be considered. Thanks a bunch, Yorkshire. Thorpe's hand is on the mend, but he needs match practice too: for the 18th time in their last 39 Tests, England could be without the class act in their middle order.

Hussain will play, though - so long as he doesn't break his fingers changing baby Jacob's nappy - and England may choose to go in with seven batsmen, a policy that worked at Headingley against West Indies last summer, when Graeme Hick made a crucial 59 from No. 8 in the first innings (Andy Caddick had gone in as nightwatchman). One of the seven must not be Ian Ward (68 runs at 13.60 in the series), but - assuming Thorpe doesn't make the cut - it could be Owais Shah, whose bizarre demotion behind Usman Afzaal after an encouraging one-day series remains the biggest blot on the selectors' already blotchy copybook.

But England have the chance to be even more daring. They could plan for the future and sort out the present all in one go by picking a new wicketkeeper. Alec Stewart is 38, and his faculties, if not failing, are on the wane, with the bat and behind the stumps. He averages 46.70 when he's not keeping, 32.75 when he is, and although it's an old argument, that's only because no-one bothers listening. His replacement would be Jamie Foster of Essex, who in a televised National League game at Hove this summer did a passable impression of Viv Richards when he shimmied three feet outside his off stump to flick a ball over square leg. He also took 74 off the Aussies in a tour match: why not give him the chance to do it in a Test?

This leaves room for four bowlers, one of whom must not be Robert Croft, who bowled as many overs at Trent Bridge as he scored runs (three). In any case, Headingley cries out for seamers: Darren Gough, Andy Caddick and Alex Tudor can all be sure of their places, but Craig White cannot. After his heroics in the winter, he averages 7.60 with the bat and 189 with the ball, and even though he has just thrashed 186 against Lancashire and would be playing on his home ground, England should regard him as their sub-continental specialist and put him to one side before the India tour.

They can't go back to Dominic Cork because his swing has gone, so they must look elsewhere. Martin Bicknell (45 Championship wickets at 23 this season for Surrey) would be a long-overdue pick, especially on a ground that rewards seamers who know about line and length. But there should be room in the squad too for Steve Kirby, the latest fast bowler to emerge from Yorkshire's academy - their modern-day version of the mines. In six matches this season he has taken 34 wickets at 17: if he were a Pakistani, he would be in the Test team by now. Possible England squad for Headingley: 1 Mike Atherton, 2 Marcus Trescothick, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain, 5 Mark Ramprakash (Graham Thorpe, if fit), 6 Alec Stewart, 7 James Foster, 8 Alex Tudor, 9 Martin Bicknell, 10 Andy Caddick, 11 Darren Gough, 12 Owais Shah, 13 Steve Kirby. Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com

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