Graveney urges more discipline from England

England's chairman of selectors, David Graveney, is calling for a much more disciplined performance from the players in the Second Ashes Test which starts at Lord's on Thursday.

And it's not just Graveney who is demanding improvements after the innings defeat in the First Test at Edgbaston - the public too are desperately hoping the side will avoid another humiliation.

Graveney revealed: "I'm in the process of replying to letters I've received from the public about Edgbaston so I know the strength of feeling about this.

"We need to show a lot more discipline in every area of the game - batting, bowling and fielding - because we were in the game for a long time at Edgbaston before it was taken away from us by Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist.

"We need to maintain the belief that we can compete with them and I'm sure all the players will have spent the time since Edgbaston thinking about what we did wrong and turn up at Lord's with a positive attitude."

One of the main problems at Edgbaston seemed to be the inexperience of the middle order. Ian Ward was playing in only his third Test while Usman Afzaal was making his debut.

It seems likely that Mark Ramprakash, who pulled out of the Edgbaston side with a hamstring strain, will be in the England squad to be announced tomorrow and is likely to be included in the XI in place of injured skipper Nasser Hussain.

England will be hoping that Graham Thorpe will be fit enough to play, even though he has had no match practice for six weeks because of a calf injury.

However, he will first have to come through extensive fitness tests during practice on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"Graham would be a valid selection," said Graveney. "We would need to talk to him to determine how he is feeling in himself and he would have to satisfy all the usual fitness tests in the nets before he was considered."

Possible England squad: MA Atherton (Lancashire, capt), ME Trescothick (Somerset), MA Butcher (Surrey), MR Ramprakash (Surrey), IJ Ward (Surrey), AJ Stewart (Surrey, wkt), GP Thorpe (Surrey), U Afzaal (Nottinghamshire), C White (Yorkshire), DG Cork (Derbyshire), D Gough (Yorkshire), AR Caddick (Somerset), CEW Silverwood (Yorkshire), AF Giles (Warwickshire).