McGrath's injury offers some hope for Hussain

To be captain of the England team labelled as the worst to tour Australia is not something a man as proud as Nasser Hussain would like on his record. After losing four consecutive Test matches, however, it is a distinct possibility.

Hussain and his players have five days to ensure their names are not mentioned in the same breath as those who were white-washed 5-0 under the leadership of Johnny Douglas in 1920-21, the only previous time this has happened in Ashes history.

England's chances of avoiding this tag improved when Glenn McGrath withdrew from Australia's squad for the fifth Test in Sydney with a back complaint. With Shane Warne already excluded, following the dislocation of his right shoulder during the VB series, the contest between these two sides should be closer than at any time in recent history. This is because McGrath and Warne have been Australia's key players throughout their recent domination of world cricket.

Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting may score plenty of runs but to win a Test match you need to take 20 wickets and these two have been masters of knocking sides over. Their absence will also give the rest of the world some idea of what Australian side they will be up against in two or three years' time when McGrath's and Warne's desire to torment batsmen is no more.

Although Hussain has steadfastly refused to admit that his side have psychologically been in awe of Australia, it is obvious they are. However, with the old foe lacking their two most influential players, the England captain now has his chance to try to take charge of a game of cricket against them.

Although England lost in Melbourne it is no coincidence that their best performance should take place when Warne was away and McGrath was struggling for the second half of the match. An indication of the problems their absence causes is that for the first time in this series Australia have expanded their squad to 13 rather than the usual 12. A pair of Western Australian Brads – Williams and Hogg – join the squad but, with the Sydney pitch still offering more assistance to the spinners than anybody else, the left-arm leg-spin of Hogg seems the more likely to be called upon.

As is to be expected, England have a couple of tough decisions to make themselves following the side injury sustained by Craig White during the Melbourne Test. The unavailability of the Yorkshire all-rounder, who has been one of the few players to improve his reputation this winter – and he was not selected in the original party, will affect the balance of the side greatly. As well as being England's top wicket-taker in this series, with 14, the 33-year-old scored an excellent 84 not out in the first innings of the last Test.

White's absence will give Alec Stewart another opportunity to prove there is still life in his 39-year-old bones, should he pass a fitness test on the injury to his right hand that kept him out of the fourth Test. Such a decision would be hard on James Foster, who kept wicket well and batted with spirit at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

It will again knock back the development of a young cricketer but on this occasion – as long is it is a one-off and either Foster or Chris Read keep in the first Test against Zimbabwe next summer – it could be forgiven because without White England do not have a genuine all-rounder of Test class except for Stewart. The Sydney Cricket Ground would also give England's most capped cricketer the ideal stage to say goodbye to Test cricket under his terms.

With the pitch here taking spin, Hussain and the coach Duncan Fletcher will have another difficult decision to make. Do they play two spinners? With England's No 1 spin bowler, Ashley Giles, still back home recovering from a broken wrist, the only possible back up to Richard Dawson is Ian Blackwell, the spinning Somerset all-rounder.

Blackwell has, up until now, been considered only as a one-day player for England but two days after learning of his selection for the World Cup the 24-year-old could be making his Test debut. As a hard-hitting batsman, his bowling is seldom used by Somerset in four-day cricket. This highlights the limited resources available to England in this department.

No matter the nature of the pitch, England should play three pace men because those are still the better bowlers, which means a recall is due for Matthew Hoggard. If Blackwell does play, it will be at the expense of John Crawley or Robert Key. Which player the selectors go for is anybody's guess. Key looked the better of the two in Melbourne but Crawley should earn the nod if continuity remains the main aim.

Stewart may not be the only player appearing in his last Test match at the SCG as Australia's captain, Steve Waugh, is due to make an announcement about his future at the end of this series. Waugh has been an outstanding player for Australia during the last three decades and is their most successful captain, with 33 wins.

However, throughout this Ashes series Waugh has been on trial. The nature of the man is unlikely to allow him to quit or admit he is not the player he once was, but his painful innings against a resurgent England on the fifth morning of the last Test may have persuaded the Australian selectors to declare on him.

Hussain is still likely to join Douglas with his unenviable record, but England will take comfort from the knowledge that they played against probably the best Australian side of all time. If Waugh were to go, it would be some time before they could say that again.

WORLD CUP SQUADS

GROUP A

AUSTRALIA: Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Jimmy Maher, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne, Shane Watson.

ENGLAND: Nasser Hussain (capt), James Anderson, Ian Blackwell, Andrew Caddick, Paul Collingwood, Andy Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Ronnie Irani, Nick Knight, Alec Stewart, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Craig White.

INDIA: Saurav Ganguly (capt), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Sanjay Bangar, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Ashish Nehra.

NAMIBIA: Deon Kotze (capt), Jan-Berry Burger, Louis Burger, Sarel Burger, Morne Karg, Danie Keulder, Bjorn Kotze, Lennie Louw, Gavin Murgatroyd, Gerrie Snyman, Stefan Swanepoel, Burton van Rooi, Melt van Scoor, Rudi van Vuuren, Riaan Walters.

NETHERLANDS: Roland Lefebvre (capt), Luuk van Troost, Reinout Scholte, Tim de Leede, Feiko Kloppenburg, Nick Statham, Daan van Bunge, Victor Grandia, Adeel Raja, Henk Mol, Klaas van Noortwijk, Edgar Schiferli, Jacob Esmeijer, Bas Zuiderent, Jeroen Smits.

PAKISTAN: Waqar Younis (capt), Saeed Anwar, Saleem Elahi, Shahid Afridi, Taufeeq Umar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Wasim Akram, Rashid Latif, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Sami, Azhar Mahmood.

ZIMBABWE: Heath Streak (capt), Andy Blignaut, Dion Ebrahim, Sean Ervine, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Travis Friend, Douglas Hondo, Doug Marillier, Brian Murphy, Henry Olonga, Tatenda Taibu, Mark Vermeulen, Guy Whittall, Craig Wishart.

GROUP B

BANGLADESH: Khaled Mashud (capt), Hannan Sarkar, Al-Sahariar, Mohammad Ashraful, Habibul Bashar, Sanwar Hossain, Alok Kapali, Tapash Baisya, Mohammad Rafique, Manjurul Islam, Talha Jubair, Mashrafe Mortaza, Tushar Imran, Ehsanul Hoque, Khaled Mahmud.

CANADA: Joseph Harris (capt), Ashish Bagai, Ian Billcliff, Desmond Chumney, Austin Codrington, John Davison, Nicholas Degroot, Nicholas Ifill, Davis Joseph, Ishwar Maraj, Ashish Patel, Abdool Samad, Fazil Samad, Barry Seebaran, Sanjayan Thuraisingam.

KENYA: Steve Tikolo (capt), Thomas Odoyo, Joseph Angara, Asif Karim, Hitesh Modi, Collins Obuya, David Obuya, Kennedy Obuya, Maurice Odumbe, Peter Ongondo, Brijal Patel, Ravindu Shah, Martin Suji, Tony Suji, Alpesh Vadher.

NEW ZEALAND: To be announced.

SOUTH AFRICA: Shaun Pollock (capt), Mark Boucher, Nicky Boje, Boeta Dippenaar, Allan Donald, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Lance Klusener, Charl Langeveldt, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Jonty Rhodes, Monde Zondeki.

SRI LANKA: Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda de Silva, Russel Arnold, Jehan Mubarak, Avishka Gunawardene, Hashan Tillakaratne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Prabath Nissanka, Buddika Fernando.

WEST INDIES: Carl Hooper (capt), Ridley Jacobs, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Jermaine Lawson, Nixon McLean, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan.