Let's not get too despondent here: it's 2-1 and England dominated the rain affected fourth game. There are factors - poor selection on our part and there being a couple e of very influential tosses, but the big differences have been the form of Smith (who may be a pretty low human but is an incredible bat) together with the absence of Anderson, who was our best bet to dismiss him.
England's selection is screwed. Our top seven has three players desperate to impose themselves, one whose batting is shafted by being captain (cf Hussain, Vaughan, Strauss, Cook...) and two new lads.
Moving forward, only Burns, Root and Stokes should be confident of their places. Denly has nothing to be ashamed of but is not a long term option, and at least one if not two of Buttler, Roy and Bairstow need to go for the balance of the side. In South Africa, Malan should play - he should have here - and I'd like them to give the next opener a dead rubber.
My side for the Oval:
Burns
Sibley
Malan
Root
Denly*
Stokes
Bairstow
Jamie Overton or Saqib Mahmood
Archer
Leach
Broad
The asterix is because I really wanted to go Bairstow at five with Foakes to keep.