England retain same squad for third test against India

LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) England have named an unchanged 12-man squad for their bid to salvage the series against India with victory in the third test at The Oval starting on Thursday.

India lead the three-test series 1-0 after winning the second match at Trent Bridge at the end of last month after the first test at Lord's ended in a draw.

''While India fully deserved their victory at Trent Bridge, there were many positive aspects to our performance,'' England chairman of selectors David Graveney said today.

''We were particularly pleased with the way our inexperienced bowling attack performed and they will be hoping to build on that in the final test,'' he told the England and Wales Cricket Board Web site (www.ecb.co.uk).

''Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison and Matthew Hoggard are all making good progress in their recovery from injury but the selectors felt it was too soon to consider them for test cricket.

''We have been 1-0 down before in test series and come back to draw or win a series and I am sure that the players will be conscious of that and very keen to maintain our impressive record at home in test cricket,'' Graveney said.

Team: Michael Vaughan (captain), Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett, Monty Panesar, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson.

REUTERS SAM RN1504