London, Aug 18: England won the toss at the Kennington Oval and decided to bat first in overcast conditions here.

While there have been no changes in the England side for the fourth and final Test of the series, India will play RP Singh in place of the injured Praveen Kumar.

Captain speak:

Andrew Strauss (England):

On winning the toss and opting to bat: “It looks like a good wicket and I hope we can put a good score on board.”

On the pitch: “It’s quite a dry wicket.”

On James Anderson’s inclusion: “He’s hundred percent fit; he wouldn’t have been playing otherwise.”

On areas of improvement: “We haven’t taken all our chances on the field and the key is to keep looking for areas that you can do 101 percent better. If you can identify three or four areas, you can improve your performance. We want to finish the summer on a high.”

MS Dhoni (India):

On losing the toss: “We were looking to bat first too. It looks like a good wicket and once you negotiate the new ball, it will be good to bat on.”

On Praveen Kumar’s absence due to injury: “He has bowled very well for us; he is one bowler who loves to bowl long spells so it’s a big thing. But you can’t control injuries.”

On the team: “We are up for the fight; the dressing room looks good. We have been outplayed but that can happen at the top level. [We are] not really demoralised.”

Playing XIs:

India: V Sehwag, G Gambhir, R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, SK Raina, MS Dhoni(c,wk), A Mishra, I Sharma, S Sreesanth, RP Singh

England: AN Cook, AJ Strauss (c), IR Bell, KP Pietersen, EJG Morgan, RS Bopara, MJ Prior(wk), TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, GP Swann, JM Anderson