Here's something I haven't said too often: I'd like to see Paul Collingwood bat at three for England.

Kevin Pietersen's injury-enforced absence gives England the opportunity to re-shuffle their top-order for the third Test at Edgbaston and confident Collingwood is in good enough form to step up.

The Durham all-rounder has shown in the last two Tests that he can adapt his game to the match conditions and I think he will make a decent stop-gap at three before Pietersen returns to fill the position long-term.

Collingwood: able to see off new ball and take attack to Australia

His promotion will allow Ravi Bopara to drop down to five where he can play his natural game and Ian Bell would slot back quite happily in at his home ground at four.

I'm pretty sure however, that the selectors won't go that way and Bopara will stay put because these days batsmen seem to get three games to prove themselves before dropping down or out entirely.

For the same reason I can see Australia giving Phillip Hughes another chance to open the innings.

Combination

Earlier this month I was at Edgbaston for a rained-off Pro40 match and groundsman Steve Rouse was worried then that his Test pitch was getting soaked all of the time.

The weather has hardly improved since so I'm expecting the sides to find a slow, batsmen-friendly seamer when they arrive in Warwickshire.

England would like the pitch to turn towards the end of the match and, to help that process and deepen the footmarks, will want most of the grass removed.

Like Australia, they will want to see the pitch before deciding what their best combination of bowlers is but I can't believe Monty Panesar will get a game.

There continues to be plenty of talk about whether fast bowler Steve Harmison should be included but I remain a Graham Onions fan and hope the selectors don't jettison him.

I thought Onions bowled pretty well in the first innings at Lord's. It's always difficult as a seam bowler when you don't get your hands on the ball until it is 25-or-so overs old but he bided his time well and fully deserved his 3-41.

He was less impressive in the second innings but was clearly incapacitated by the nasty knock he took on his elbow while batting - something that got rather lost amid the entire furore surrounding Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.

Stain

If anyone's place is under threat then I believe it is Stuart Broad's but I don't think the selectors see it that way so I expect Onions to be retained and Harmison to miss out again.

The rumours that he will retire from Test cricket at the end of this summer are not helping Harmison's cause one bit.

In addition, I don't think Andy Flower is a particular fan of his either. Flower is obviously a fan of Harmison's bowling when he is on-song - as we all are - but I think the bowler's lack of enthusiasm when he's on duty abroad has left an indelible stain with the team director.

I don't think Flower wants to rush him back into the side for a couple of glory moments in the Ashes only to be told that he isn't going to play Test cricket any longer.

Tinkering

As for Australia, they continue to make positive noises about Mitchell Johnson but the figures he produced against Northamptonshire's 'second team' would suggest he is having a real problem.

If I was a selector I would leave the left-armer out and bring in Stuart Clark to give skipper Ricky Ponting some much-needed control.

Some people are saying that Clark has lost his nip but if that's the case what's he doing on the tour?

Whether the tourists think Shane Watson can do a better job than Mitchell Johnson and add to the length of the batting as well, I'm not too sure.

They could get the all-rounder in by leaving Nathan Hauritz out but I think the spinner performed adequately at Lord's despite picking up that injury.

So I can't see Australia tinkering too much to their side despite the defeat at Lord's and I can see them going into the third Test with the same top seven. Let me know your thoughts...

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