diff --git a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Indexer.java b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Indexer.java
index e821430153a..31b02615649 100644
--- a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Indexer.java
+++ b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Indexer.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2010 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -32,9 +32,9 @@ import org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelMessage;
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.support.ReflectivePropertyAccessor;
 
 /**
- * An Indexer can index into some proceeding structure to access a particular piece of it. Supported structures are:
- * strings/collections (lists/sets)/arrays
- * 
+ * An Indexer can index into some proceeding structure to access a particular piece of it.
+ * Supported structures are: strings/collections (lists/sets)/arrays
+ *
  * @author Andy Clement
  * @since 3.0
  */
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ public class Indexer extends SpelNodeImpl {
 		if ((targetObject instanceof Collection ) || targetObject.getClass().isArray() || targetObject instanceof String) {
 			int idx = (Integer)state.convertValue(index, TypeDescriptor.valueOf(Integer.class));		
 			if (targetObject.getClass().isArray()) {
-				return new TypedValue(accessArrayElement(targetObject, idx),TypeDescriptor.valueOf(targetObjectTypeDescriptor.getElementType()));
+				return new TypedValue(accessArrayElement(targetObject, idx), targetObjectTypeDescriptor.getElementTypeDescriptor());
 			} else if (targetObject instanceof Collection) {
 				Collection c = (Collection) targetObject;
 				if (idx >= c.size()) {
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ public class Indexer extends SpelNodeImpl {
 				int pos = 0;
 				for (Object o : c) {
 					if (pos == idx) {
-						return new TypedValue(o,TypeDescriptor.valueOf(targetObjectTypeDescriptor.getElementType()));
+						return new TypedValue(o, targetObjectTypeDescriptor.getElementTypeDescriptor());
 					}
 					pos++;
 				}
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ public class Indexer extends SpelNodeImpl {
 			}
 			if (targetObject instanceof List) {
 				List list = (List)targetObject;
-				Object possiblyConvertedValue = state.convertValue(newValue,TypeDescriptor.valueOf(targetObjectTypeDescriptor.getElementType()));
+				Object possiblyConvertedValue = state.convertValue(newValue, targetObjectTypeDescriptor.getElementTypeDescriptor());
 				list.set(idx,possiblyConvertedValue);
 				return;
 			}
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ public class Indexer extends SpelNodeImpl {
 			Object newCollectionElement = null;
 			try {
 				int newElements = index-collection.size();
-				if (elementType == null) {
+				if (elementType == null || elementType == Object.class) {
 					throw new SpelEvaluationException(getStartPosition(), SpelMessage.UNABLE_TO_GROW_COLLECTION_UNKNOWN_ELEMENT_TYPE);	
 				}
 				while (newElements>0) {
diff --git a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Selection.java b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Selection.java
index a2a42392eb3..0698720ff1a 100644
--- a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Selection.java
+++ b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/Selection.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2010 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -34,12 +34,12 @@ import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 import org.springframework.util.ObjectUtils;
 
 /**
- * Represents selection over a map or collection. For example: {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}.?{#isEven(#this) == 'y'} returns
- * [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]
- * 
- * Basically a subset of the input data is returned based on the evaluation of the expression supplied as selection
- * criteria.
- * 
+ * Represents selection over a map or collection.
+ * For example: {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}.?{#isEven(#this) == 'y'} returns [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]
+ *
+ * <p>Basically a subset of the input data is returned based on the
+ * evaluation of the expression supplied as selection criteria.
+ *
  * @author Andy Clement
  * @author Mark Fisher
  * @since 3.0
@@ -112,13 +112,13 @@ public class Selection extends SpelNodeImpl {
 			int idx = 0;
 			for (Object element : data) {
 				try {
-					state.pushActiveContextObject(new TypedValue(element,TypeDescriptor.valueOf(op.getTypeDescriptor().getElementType())));
+					state.pushActiveContextObject(new TypedValue(element, op.getTypeDescriptor().getElementTypeDescriptor()));
 					state.enterScope("index", idx);
 					Object o = selectionCriteria.getValueInternal(state).getValue();
 					if (o instanceof Boolean) {
 						if (((Boolean) o).booleanValue() == true) {
 							if (variant == FIRST) {
-								return new TypedValue(element,TypeDescriptor.valueOf(op.getTypeDescriptor().getElementType()));
+								return new TypedValue(element, op.getTypeDescriptor().getElementTypeDescriptor());
 							}
 							result.add(element);
 						}
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ public class Selection extends SpelNodeImpl {
 				return TypedValue.NULL;
 			}
 			if (variant == LAST) {
-				return new TypedValue(result.get(result.size() - 1),TypeDescriptor.valueOf(op.getTypeDescriptor().getElementType()));
+				return new TypedValue(result.get(result.size() - 1), op.getTypeDescriptor().getElementTypeDescriptor());
 			}
 			if (operand instanceof Collection) {
 				return new TypedValue(result,op.getTypeDescriptor());