Nasser Hussain picks up the reins of the England captaincy again for the final Test with New Zealand at the Oval today promising to nurture a supportive dressing-room atmosphere in which young players of character can flourish.

Since the Lord's Test Hussain's fractured finger has been the least of his worries as, in his absence, accusations have sounded about a fractured dressing room of low morale. Hussain has cut an impressive figure in many ways but he desperately needs to reverse the ill luck that has dogged him since his appointment at the start of this series. England's revamped squad, the first selected by Hussain, the coach-in-waiting Duncan Fletcher and the chairman of selectors David Graveney, was heralded by the captain as "full of strong characters, with the ability and the will to fight", and he underlined that these qualities would be backed up by a supportive atmosphere.

"They will be given the opportunity to succeed and the right atmosphere in which they can flourish," he said. England's performance at the Oval will have considerable ramifications. Defeat would leave them bottom of the Wisden Test rankings for the first time and would further alienate a public weary of failure. Victory would give them the series, temper some of the more vitriolic criticism and provide a more stable atmosphere for next week's selection of the winter party to tour South Africa.

The forecast of unsettled weather will reduce the prospects of a Test debut for Graeme Swann, Northamptonshire's feisty off-spinning all-rounder, with the likelihood that Ronnie Irani's combative all-round qualities will win him a place at No7.

The second outstanding decision this morning concerns the pace attack, with Andrew Caddick a certain selection alongside two of Alan Mullally, Chris Silverwood and Ed Giddins.

New Zealand's preparations, on the other hand, were dealt a double blow last night when the fast bowler Geoff Allott (back) was ruled out and the all-rounder Chris Cairns (right knee) was given no more than a 50-50 chance.

Allott, New Zealand's leading bowler in the World Cup, will be replaced by Shayne O'Connor, who has taken 13 wickets in the last two tour matches. Replacing Cairns would be more of a problem. Despite young seamer Andrew Penn having a fair degree of promise, Cairns has been one of the great successes of New Zealand's tour so far.

England (from): MA Atherton, DL Maddy, N Hussain (capt), GP Thorpe, AJ Stewart (wkt), MR Ramprakash, RC Irani, GP Swann, AR Caddick, AD Mullally, CEW Silverwood, PCR Tufnell, ESH Giddins.

New Zealand (from): MD Bell, MJ Horne, SP Fleming (capt), NJ Astle, CD McMillan, RG Twose, CL Cairns, AC Parore (wkt), DJ Nash, DL Vettori, SB O'Connor, AJ Penn, CZ Harris