Crunch looms again for England

Having triumphed in the final Test at the Oval to claim the Ashes, Andrew Strauss' team now need to beat the Australians in the day-nighter to avoid going 3-0 down in the NatWest Series.

Although there would still be four matches remaining, winning from that position would be highly unlikely for a team battling fatigue after a long season.

There is little respite either for the men who play in all forms of the game - with Paul Collingwood, who has featured in every single match for England this year, contractually obliged to make himself available for Delhi Daredevils' Champions League campaign in October.

That tournament is scheduled in his one break from action before January 18 2010, and could see him named alongside Owais Shah in the Delhi squad.

Sussex's Luke Wright, the other member of this England squad who will jet off to India for the global club tournament, is fully aware of the need for success in the here and now.

"It's not the end if we don't win - we still have four more games after that," he said. "But you don't want to leave it too late and give yourself too much to do. So we desperately want to win."

All-rounder Wright has been used at the top of the order by England in both one-day and Twenty20 cricket but has reverted to the middle order in a bid to compensate the lack of power hitting in the absence of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.

"I have been fortunate in that I've always been told to go out and play my natural game in one-day cricket - to go out, strike the ball and have a lot of intent - so from my point of view it doesn't really matter if I am up the top or down the order," said Wright.

"It is not something that has put extra pressure on me. You are always going to miss those guys, as we have seen all summer."