London, July 15: England recalled fast bowler Chris Silverwood, Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash for the second cricket Test against Australia at Lord's on Thursday.

Thorpe, England's most successful batsman during the series wins over Pakistan and Sri Lanka during the winter, has been sidelined with a calf injury for the past seven weeks.

His presence will be a boost to the injury-hit England side that lost skipper Nasser Hussain (broken finger) during the innings and 118-run loss in the first Ashes test at Edgbaston.

Ramprakash, Thorpe's Surrey team-mate, who was named for the first Test but had to withdraw due to a hamstring injury, gets a recall.

He opened for England against the West Indies last year at Lord's before losing his Test spot to Marcus Trescothick.

Silverwood, played the last of his five Tests against South Africa in the now infamous England victory in the fifth and final Test at Centurion Park.

Silverwood, the Yorkshire fast bowler, fought off competition from Surrey's Martin Bicknell and Alex Tudor, who was ruled out Sunday morning after consultations with his county and England because he has only just returned from injury.

Silverwood was picked after his county team-mate Matthew Hoggard was ruled out of contention with a suspected stress fracture of his left foot.

Michael Atherton, the record-breaking former England captain, will lead the home side in Hussain's absence.

Alec Stewart, recently cleared of wrongdoings by the International Cricket Council after an Indian bookmaker accused him of accepting money to provide information, made himself unavailable to lead the side.

In the past couple of years Stewart had stepped in to lead the side in Hussain's absence.

Squad: Michael Atherton (captain), Uzman Afzaal, Mark Butcher, Andy Caddick, Dominic Cork, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, Mark Ramprakash, Chris Silverwood, Alec Stewart (wicketkeeper), Marcus Trescothick, Graham Thorpe, Ian Ward and Craig White.