No Vaughan Back-Up Expected

England will resist naming batting cover for captain Michael Vaughan when the squad for the first Test against South Africa is revealed today.

Vaughan, 33, has played 15 consecutive Tests since returning from a fourth operation on his right knee.

But the joint has provided soreness in recent days, forcing him to sit out some Twenty20 action for Yorkshire last week and apply ice packs to the area on the final day of the County Championship defeat by Durham.

However, England do not intend to name an official standby batsman.

"Not at this stage," national selector Geoff Miller said. "I was with Michael (the other day) and I think everything is under control with him.

"There was a kind of minor thing but we have got on top of it.

"Even so, if anything crops up, we don't need to pick players as cover because we know the people that would come in and we know where those people are."

One-day players Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara, both tourists with England last winter, would be obvious candidates to fill in if a deterioration of the knee occurred.

One argument for including an extra batsman in the official party, however, would be that it may have acted as a warning to an under-performing group to buck their ideas up.

England last scored 400 in a first innings 13 Tests ago and of the established top six only Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss average in excess of 40 since.

But with Andrew Flintoff being held back until the second npower Test at the earliest, national selector Miller is likely to name an unchanged 12-man squad at Lord's this lunchtime.

Unlike earlier in the summer against New Zealand, however, England will resist naming the same party for back-to-back Tests, allowing Flintoff, 30, the opportunity to press his claims for a return at Headingley.

While England take on Graeme Smith's South Africans for the first time in the big event of the summer, Flintoff will hope to further improve fitness and form, following six weeks on the sidelines with a side strain, against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.

"It's plain for everybody to see where he's at: the work he has put in has been absolutely fantastic but there is bat form to consider, he will want some runs, and a few more miles in his legs as well," said Miller of Flintoff, who sent down 34 wicketless overs in this week's County Championship contest against Sussex.

"We have just picked for this first Test match because obviously Fred (Flintoff) is in a situation and there is a chance for us to have another look at that. We are not sure where we are beyond that first Test match."

Flintoff has not played a Test since January 2007, when he oversaw the defeat in Sydney that condemned England to an Ashes whitewash, and there is no doubt he has been badly missed.

That is also true in one-day cricket and Miller announces the provisional 30-man squad for September's ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan today.

Flintoff will be among them while his Lancashire team-mate Kyle Hogg, Kent opener Joe Denly and Michael Carberry of Hampshire will have been considered in an extended group.

And Simon Jones' wicket-heavy start for Worcestershire could be acknowledged with a call-up - his first since injury struck following his awesome contribution to the 2005 Ashes victory.