England Seek Historic Ashes Win

England will carry an air of unfinished business into the final test at Sydney today, despite having already ensured that they retain the coveted urn.

The visitors cannot lose the series after their emphatic win in the fourth test at Melbourne, but the Sydney test offers the enticing prospect of their first Ashes series win since 1987.

A win of an away series win down under, while laudable in itself, would take England closer to their longer-term goal of attaining the world's No 1 ranking in test cricket.

Michael Clarke will start as Australian test captain for the first time, replacing Ricky Ponting who has a broken finger dating back to Perth.

Ponting will end a run of 73 straight Tests for his country after he was ruled out of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney due to injury.

England has no real need to make changes, but the attitude of Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss may see a ‘team first’ attitude prevail, and with it a change or two. If England does go into the SCG Test unchanged, Ajmal Shazad and Monty Panesar will most likely sit this one out once more, alongside Steve Finn, the leading wicket taker in the first three tests.

Being a spin friendly pitch, Australia will no doubt replace the injured Ryan Harris with a spinner.

Despite calls from the Australian public to play an in-from Nathan Hauritz, many are expecting to see the debut of newcomer Michael Beer- who you can bet England’s batsmen will look to attack from the get-go.

Australia find themselves in somewhat of a catch-22 situation in that if electing to bowl first they will  give their pacemen a positive chance in conducive conditions, while at the same time putting pressure on their batsmen to face an in-form Graeme Swann on a deteriorating pitch in the fourth innings on days four and five.

England (from): Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior (wkt), Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Ajmal Shahzad, Steven Finn.

Australia (from): Michael Clarke (captain), Philip Hughes, Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, Mike Hussey, Steve Smith, Brad Haddin (wkt), Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer, Doug Bollinger.

Pakistani-born batsman Usman Khawaja will make his debut in Sydney, while Ryan Harris will miss out following his ankle fracture.

Left-arm quick Doug Bollinger returns to the squad, having been dropped earlier in the series. Bollinger's inclusion hinges on whether the selectors have seen enough of Hilfenhaus, who might be the most efficient of Australia's bowlers but he has also been the least threatening.

The SCG is traditionally a spin-friendly wicket and you would be silly not to put Graeme Swann as your favoured highest wicket-taker here- especially if bowling in the fourth innings.

With plenty of cloud cover and rain expected, batsmen will have tremendous difficulty facing up to the pace of Jimmy Anderson and Tremlett as they seek to cap off a monumental series.

Both teams will be looking to dominate here on the opening day- with the winner of the day likely to go on to take the match.

Australia will look to kick off a new era of captaincy with a resounding win, while England will seek to grind out the first series win down-under since the Mike Gatting era.

England once again head into this Test the more formidable, and most certainly more settled unit, and one would feel that they should prevail here.

The visitors are a well balanced unit in both the pace and spin department, and with a top order rivalling the world’s best at present, you would be hard pressed to bet against them here.

For England the objective is obvious – win or draw the match and ensure the Ashes are won outright, rather than retaining them through a drawn series.

With rain predicted for the first four days of the match, the best chance of a result here is a low-scoring contest.

Prediction: If the weather holds a win for England or a rain induced draw if the heavens open up for an entire day- either way- England to win the first series down under since 1987!