London, July 29: Injured captain Nasser Hussain on Sunday was ruled out of England's 13-man squad for the third Ashes Test against Australia starting on Thursday at Trent Bridge. Hussain missed the eight wicket second Test defeat at Lord's after damaging a finger in the opening Test, so stand-in skipper Mike Atherton will again lead the side as he did last week.

Hussain is now aiming to be fit for the fourth Test at Headingley along with England's other injured batsmen Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan.

Derbyshire all-rounder Dominic Cork has been dropped in favour of Surrey's Alex Tudor, whose only previous home Test appearance was against New Zealand at Edgbaston in 1999 when he hit an unbeaten 99, the best score by an England nightwatchman.

Nottinghamshire batsman Usman Afzaal and Yorkshire paceman Chris Silverwood, squad members at Lord's but left out, are retained while there is a recall for Glamorgan off spinner Robert Croft.

Australia lead the Ashes series 2-0.

England squad: Michael Atherton (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Mark Ramprakash, Alec Stewart (wkt), Ian Ward, Usman Afzaal, Craig White, Robert Croft, Alex Tudor, Andy Caddick, Darren Gough, Chris Silverwood.