England squad hit by injuries and illness

The England team management have been left with plenty to ponder in the lead up to the Ashes series as their list of ill and injured reaches epidemic proportions.

England's injury worries deepened this morning with the news that Ashley Giles failed to report to Edgbaston today suffering from tonsillitis. He is known to have a long-standing Achilles problem, the fitness of which he will have to prove before Thursday. Robert Croft has been put on stand-by.

Worse news followed with the announcement that Graham Thorpe (calf) is now certain not to play following a specialist's report. Thorpe will rest for a further 10-days in an attempt to recover for the Second Test after some internal bleeding around his injury was discovered.

Thorpe's replacement Mark Ramprakash (hamstring) has been ruled out and Michael Vaughan (knee) is described as "a very serious doubt" and in need to surgery.

"He got through everything in training, but he's a very serious doubt for the Test match, but we'll make the decision tomorrow," team physio Dean Conway revealed when asked about Vaughan. "To all intents and purposes we've ruled him out of the Test and we've provisionally booked him in for surgery."

England are likely to call upon another batsman. Mark Butcher, John Crawley, and Graeme Hick have all been mentioned as possible recalls, while Uzman Afzaal and Owais Shah could make their debut's if England opt for a youthful line-up.

"The timing is a nightmare," admitted Ramprakash. "I was really happy to get the call-up and I'm crossing my fingers and hope that if I keep playing well I'll remain in the frame."

Craig White has still to bowl at full pace but is thought likely to play while Nasser Hussain has only just returned to first-class cricket after his broken finger. Andy Caddick will play with extra protection on his injured knuckle.

Conway admitted that the situation was far from ideal.

"A week ago we had just about everybody fit for this Test," Conway said. "Graham Thorpe was progressing nicely until he suffered a recurrence last Thursday and it's unfortunate because we'd targeted this Test for three months as a possible return date for the likes of Craig White and Ashley Giles.

"Ashley was progressing well over the last five or six weeks and he has now got a recurrence and he's in bed with tonsillitis that came on over the weekend. We hope to see him tomorrow, but if the temperature is still there it may be enough to rule him out. We need to see him so we can put him through tests to check his Achilles."

England's current run of 'ill-luck' is perhaps best typified by the news that even bowling coach, Bob Cottam, was unable to attend nets today. He has contracted a virus.