Cork and Irani Get the Call to Balance England's Battered and Bruised Line-up

The rule book has been jettisoned through the window. Circumstance dictates England must go for broke in this week's final Test at the Oval, and in selecting Marcus Trescothick (fractured thumb), Dominic Cork (broken little finger) and Ronnie Irani (wonky knee) in a 14-man squad announced yesterday they have done precisely that.

The Durham fast bowler Steve Harmison, who played in the second Test at Trent Bridge, has also been included, along with the side so humiliated at Headingley minus the injured Andy Flintoff.

Each of Trescothick, Cork and Irani will have played in national league matches before the squad meets up on Tuesday, a less than ideal preparation for a crunch Test match.

Trescothick played for Somerset in Saturday's Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy final with his left thumb heavily strapped. He had not batted since his century in the final of the NatWest one-day international triangular series on July 13 but played with some panache, if not entirely free of discomfort, to make 27.

"I felt very good out there," he said afterwards. "I hardly felt I had been away. The quality of my nets has been so good that I feel I haven't lost touch. It jarred once or twice when I was defending early on but I will be very happy to play on Thursday if asked to do so."

Whether this is sufficient to satisfy Nasser Hussain is another matter. He is a veteran of numerous hand injuries and understands the possible long-term consequences should Trescothick take another blow from a 90mph bowler such as Zaheer Khan.

"We can't go into a Test match with doubts about his hand and at the moment it is obviously not 100%," Hussain said yesterday. "He cannot risk long-term damage."

The chairman of selectors David Graveney admitted Thursday evening's lengthy meeting had centred on the side's balance in Flintoff's absence. The outcome was that any idea of going into the match with four front-line bowlers, while boosting the batting with another specialist such as Mark Ramprakash, would be counterproductive given the dismal performance of five bowlers in helpful conditions at Headingley, the need to take 20 wickets on a better surface, the attack's fitness record, and the lack of success that such a policy brought in the drawn Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's this summer.

The final place will boil down to a choice between Cork's ability to conjure wickets from unpromising situations and Irani's self-belief and robust batting. The Essex captain had keyhole surgery on his knee injury a week ago, but he played against Lancashire at Old Trafford yesterday. Cork has not played for a fortnight but will face Surrey at Derby today.

Although Flintoff has not had the most profitable summer, India would still not fear to see Cork replace him at seven, nor blanch at the sight of Irani's bandy legs emerging from the pavilion. The Essex captain enjoyed a solid one-day series, but his rigid technique would surely be deficient against Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, and his bowling lacks the guile or pace to get good players out on Test pitches.

Without seeing the pitch, the selectors have not chosen a second spinner to go with Ashley Giles, although the option remains open. In this case it would probably be Richard Dawson, the Yorkshire off-spinner, who performed creditably in India last winter.

Graham Thorpe has been invited to the Oval during this week's final Test</B> against India to have further discussions with the selectors about his availability for the forthcoming Ashes tour.