Dream team

Of course, it is dream time but here is a team to win back the Ashes at the Oval next week-end.

1. Andrew Strauss
2. Marcus Trescothick
3. Mark Ramprakash
4. Paul Collingwood
5. Matt Prior
6. Andrew Flintoff
7. Michael Vaughan (capt)
8. Chris Read (wicket-keeper)
9. Ryan Sidebottom
9. Graeme Swann or Stuart Broad
10. Jimmy Anderson
11. Monty Panesar

Coach: Nasser Hussain.
Manager: David GraveneyI

'm not going to debate my own selections; I realise all you are intelligent enough to see where I am coming from.

I want someone - probably Nasser who notoriously wears his heart on both sleeves - to prepare a final speech on these lines.

"Look, lads, this is not a career move; it's a one-off match to give this country back the Ashes. Some of you will never play another cricket match so make the most of this huge opportunity. This Aussies are a moderate side at best; everyone of you can play far better than your opposite number; and as it is a last time on the big stage you can also pull any stunt, trick, ploy or bit of nastiness you like. I'll back you but because this is a unique occasion, because you will not suffer any repercussions this is a match in which you can - as those lads in the next dressing room might say - go for your lives. So good luck - and give 'em hell."

This is not - please understand me - a side our selectors would endorse. They like evolution not revolution and normally I'd have sympathy with that point of view. But we are at such a desperate pitch after the dire result at Headingley that we have to take a few risk, through the rules of thumb out of the window.

If England don't win back the Ashes, they will take heaven alone knows how long to get back close to the top of the world rankings and, worse still, the Aussies will go home convinced they are the jam on the doughnut. In fact, they are not good enough to be top of the tree and they ought to be shown the truth about their status - as a team rebuilding with a bunch of promising players.

If England prove their point they will do themselves and the rest of the cricket world a service. It's a gamble - making so many changes - but surely it has a grain of sense and it is time we tried.

Sport is about dreams and England can prove that point and a few more besides by taking the series 2-1.