London, July 2: The England camp were on Monday searching for replacements to patch up their injury-hit team just three days before the start of their first Ashes test against Australia.

A calf injury has ruled out leading batsman Graham Thorpe from the Edgbaston fixture and he is widely expected to be joined on the sidelines by another batsman Michael Vaughan and spinner Ashley Giles.

Mark Ramprakash, summoned to fill in for Thorpe, will also be noticeable by his absence after he was ruled out earlier Monday.

In stark contrast Australia were bedevilled with no such problems and were even in a position to name their side Monday - a luxury the England selectors could only dream of.

The England management need to find two batsmen - names in the hat are two who have been tried and found to have failed previously opener Mark Butcher and John Crawley and two of the younger brigade, Uzman Afzaal and Owais Shah, and one spinner with veterans Robert Croft and Phil Tufnell the favourites for that role.

Ramprakash' Test ended when an old injury with his left hamstring flared up at the weekend.

"The timing is a nightmare," said the player.

"There was no way I could have turned up at Edgbaston in a match of such importance with an injury like this even if all players want to play in this sort of match."

Giles was unable to test his Achilles problem after going down with tonsilitis at the weekend while Thorpe needs a further 10 days rest after a specialist found internal bleeding around his calf injury.

On a bleak day for the home side Vaughan was set to miss out as his problematic left knee requires key hole surgery.