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Leeds: England captain Andrew Strauss called for a period of "calm reflection" after Australia's crushing innings and 80-run victory in the fourth Test saw Ricky Ponting's men level the Ashes at 1-1.
Australia's dominating win inside three days at Headingley set-up a winner-takes-all clash in the fifth and final Test at the Oval which starts on August 20.
England top-order batsmen Ravi Bopara, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood, who managed just 16 runs between them at Headingley and that has led to calls for the likes of ex-Test batsmen Marcus Trescothick and Mark Ramprakash, the leading England-qualified run-scorers in county cricket this season, to be brought in at the Oval as a one-off pick to bolster the top-order.
But Strauss, speaking to reporters after Sunday's emphatic defeat, said now was not the time for desperate measures.
"All I would say is it's time for calm reflection and selection should be based in a calm reflective manner," he insisted.
"Whatever decision we come to, hopefully we've thought through it carefully and we picked the right 11 to win the Test.
And he rejected a suggestion made by former Australia batsman Justin Langer, now the captain of English county Somerset, in a dossier he prepared for the tourists, that "England will taper off very quickly if you wear them down".
"If you look at the cricket we've played over the last nine months or so, I would contest that," said Strauss, who played alongside fellow left-handed opener Langer at Middlesex.
"There's a lot of strength of character in the side and we're going to need it next week."
England, looking to regain the Ashes after being whitewashed 5-0 in Australia in 2006/07, now face several selection headaches, notably regarding their star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff
The 31-year-old fans' favourite was ruled out before play Friday after England decided the knee injury that had troubled him throughout this series would prevent the pace bowler and hard-hitting batsman playing a full part in the match.
The injury-prone Flintoff, the outstanding performer in England's 2-1 Ashes series win four years ago, led the way with the ball in last month's 115-run second Test win at Lord's and top-scored for the hosts in the drawn third Test at Edgbaston.
Flintoff has said this will be his final series before he retires from Test cricket but Strauss has made it clear sentimentality will not be a factor in selection and poured cold water on the idea the former captain might play as a batsman only.
"I think if he's going to play he's got to be fit enough to play his role as an all-rounder.
"Maybe he doesn't need to bowl 28 overs a day, but he's got to be able to bowl more than one spell and I think we felt for this game he was unable to do that. Having had a couple of weeks break, hopefully he will be in better shape for the Oval."
England only had three days between the end of the Edgbaston Test and Friday's start at Headingley to assess Flintoff's fitness and Strauss said: "On the back of Edgbaston it was impossible to know too far out from this game whether he would be fit enough and it was unfortunate he wasn't quite fit enough.
"He's still desperate to play in that final Test but he realises he's got to be fit enough to play and I'm very hopeful he will be."
England never recovered at Headingley from a first innings collapse that saw them bowled out for 102 and ended the match with a fitness doubt regarding pace bowler James Anderson, who has a hamstring niggle.
Batting slumps are nothing new for England - in February they were bowled out for 51 by the West Indies in Jamaica.
"If you look at our batting performances over the past nine Tests or so they've been pretty good," Strauss, whose century at Lord's is the only hundred by an England player so far this series compared to seven for Australia, said.
"You don't want to be in a situation where you ever get bowled out for 51 or 100, to be honest. That is an issue. From my point of view I don't think we reacted quickly enough to the conditions or situation or the way the Australians bowled.
"As a batting unit we need to take that on the chin before turning our attentions to the Oval Test match and still reminding ourselves that it's still 1-1 in the series going into that final Test match.
"We've had a lot of circumstances in the past when we've come back well after poor performances and we've got to do that again next week."
But turning to England's batting, Strauss said: "Obviously that middle order display was below what we need and the guys obviously know that."
