London, August 22: England go into the fifth and final Ashes Test here at The Oval on Thursday on the back of a famous victory knowing better than anyone how fortunate they are to be 3-1 rather than 4-0 down in the series.

Monday's remarkable six wicket victory at Headingley, where England scored 311 runs in a day, was made possible by an extraordinary combination of events.

First there was rain which washed out two-thirds of Sunday's play, robbing Australia of valuable batting time in which to set an impregnable total.

Secondly, there was the tourists' desire to complete a series whitewash which prompted stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist's bold declaration and last, but by no means least, Mark Butcher's astonishing 173 not out, rightly described by Australia wicketkeeper Gilchrist as "the innings of his life".

The chance to equal Australia's 1920-21 5-0 Ashes series whitewash has disappeared while the possibility of the other two factors repeating themselves at The Oval is rather longer than the 16-1 offered by bookmakers here on an England victory Monday morning.

"We stopped the rot by winning but we were outplayed for parts of the game again - we'll enjoy the victory but we must improve," said England captain Nasser Hussain.

"The margin for error against Australia is so much smaller and we have two days to get that right before The Oval," the Essex batsman added.

Normally a side has to take 20 wickets to win a Test match. Australia's declaration at Headingley meant England only claimed 14 dismissals for an aggregate total of 623 runs at a costly average of 44.5.

England's pace attack, seemingly revived in the third Test at Trent Bridge, will need to improve vastly on a lacklustre display at Headingley.

Their general inaccuracy was all the more frustrating for England given the improvement in the batting, the side twice scoring more than 300 runs - a feat they previously failed to achieve all series.

If enough of England's batsmen and bowlers can play well in the same match they may yet give Australia a decent game in an uninterrupted Test.

Hampshire left-arm quick Alan Mullally, who failed to make much of an impression at Headingley, is already out of the squad with a hip injury.

His fellow fast bowler Alex Tudor of Surrey, looking to play on his home ground is doubtful with a sore hip.

England have at least given themselves a genuine altenative to speed by recalling Middlesex left-arm spinner Phil Tufnell. The 35-year-old has been out of favour for 18 months but has been the most successful domestic slow bowler in county cricket this season.

He also knows how to bowl well at The Oval. In 1991 he took six for 25 there against the West Indies and six years later claimed 11 Australia wickets at the Surrey headquarters.

England have also retained Glamorgan off-spinner Robert Croft in the squad although chairman of selectors David Graveney admitted at least one of the slow bowlers was likely to miss out on a place in the starting XI.

If Tudor is unfit England are set to give a first cap to either Somerset seamer Richard Johnson, a regular squad member this season, or a new call up to his Leicestershire counterpart Jimmy Ormond.

At the other end of the spectrum, this Test could mark the final England appearance of veterans Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart.

Both men, who have played over 100 Tests each, have yet to confirm their availability for England's winter tours of India and New Zealand amid mounting media speculation here that they are on the brink of quitting international cricket.

Australia are set to name the same side although they have so far refused to rule out the possibility of captain Steve Waugh (calf) returning from injury.

That would be a surprise but Monday's events showed that you can never rule out anything in cricket.

Teams:

England (from): Nasser Hussain (capt), Michael Atherton, Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Mark Ramprakash, Usman Afzaal, Alec Stewart (wkt), Alex Tudor, Andrew Caddick, Darren Gough, Robert Croft, Phil Tufnell, Jimmy Ormond, Richard Johnson

Australia (probable): Matthew Hayden, Michael Slater, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Simon Katich, Adam Gilchrist (capt/wkt), Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath