WHETHER Graham Thorpe or Kevin Pietersen goes in at No 5 when England start their second Lord’s Test match of the summer eight weeks from today, there is no longer any doubt about which of them has a longer Test future. Thorpe effectively announced his retirement from the international game yesterday by choosing to spend next winter playing in Australia.

By accepting a playing and coaching role at a first-grade club in Sydney and making himself available to become the first England Test player since Ian Botham, 17 years ago, to play state cricket, he has paved the way for Pietersen and probably one of Robert Key, Owais Shah or Ed Joyce to tour Pakistan and India before and after Christmas.

Thorpe’s decision to join New South Wales from January 1, renewing acquaintance with Dave Gilbert, the former Surrey coach and now NSW chief executive, has put a little more pressure on himself to play a prominent part in his 99th Test, the first against Bangladesh, starting at Lord’s this morning.

Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, and Michael Vaughan will want their left-handed nugget to play for England until September. His form and fitness will have to merit a place, however, especially if Ian Bell, who will bat at No 4 against Bangladesh, confirms his ability to fit the Thorpe mould of a class batsman who plays the ball late and has the concentration and determination to bat for long periods against high-class bowling.

The young Bangladesh team should be no serious test for either of them on a Lord’s square that produced eight individual hundreds in two Tests last season, but for Thorpe the need to bat with authority is pressing. Having scored fewer than 20 in six of his ten innings in the Tests in South Africa last winter, his recent back trouble and lack of runs for Surrey this season have made him vulnerable to young pretenders.

Domestically he is settled after the traumatic break-up of his first marriage — his girlfriend is expecting a baby — but yesterday’s announcement was unexpected and intriguing, considering how few England players have tested themselves in the hard school of Australian domestic cricket.

Thorpe’s decision added a further element of uncertainty to England’s plans after Ashley Giles had been ruled out for this and possibly next week’s second Test at the Riverside because of a hip injury. Gareth Batty wins his sixth Test cap, his first on home soil, in Giles’s place.

Batty’s most lasting claim to fame seemed likely to be that he was the man off whom Brian Lara reached 400 in Antigua. “It’s a great chance for him after traipsing round South Africa without getting a game,” Vaughan said. So it is, but by trusting his own ability as an off spinner, the captain might have opened up another option for the series against Australia. Vaughan has signalled his own long-term intentions by choosing No 3 for himself. If he would also be prepared to play a serious role as a spinner, he could allow England in certain circumstances, such as the need for Giles to have an operation (the last resort, the medics say), to play Thorpe, Bell and Pietersen in the same side. Pietersen would also do himself no harm by developing his off breaks.

The preference for Batty meant further disappointment for Jon Lewis. Andrew Flintoff, Vaughan said, would bowl in spells of no more than five overs and is to be given a light load, but that may be tested if the talented Mushfiqur Rahim and one or two of his more experienced team-mates find inspiration in the enthralling prospect of playing for the first time at Lord’s. The first thing that most of the awestruck Bangladeshis did upon their arrival was to take photographs.

Having lost 31 and won only one of their 36 Tests, they have nothing to lose unless, perhaps, they have put money on themselves to win the series at 150-1. England should begin today to justify their own extraordinary odds of 250-1 on, especially with Stephen Harmison in form. “He’s back and he’s bowling fast,” Vaughan said, leaving his opponents in no doubt that England intend to play aggressive cricket from the start.

• The BBC has secured exclusive radio commentary rights for England’s series against Australia in the winter of 2006-07. The five Ashes Tests and the one-day internationals against Australia and New Zealand will be broadcast live on Test Match Special on Radio 4 Long Wave and Radio 5 Live Sports Extra. Recent England overseas Tests have been covered by talkSPORT.

  TODAY'S TEAMS

  ENGLAND: M P Vaughan (captain), M E Trescothick, A J Strauss, I R Bell, G P Thorpe, A Flintoff, G O Jones, G J Batty, M J Hoggard, S P Jones, S J Harmison.

  BANGLADESH (from): Habibul Bashar (captain), Javed Omar, Nafees Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahim, Khaled Mashud, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Mohammad Rafique, Anwar Hossain.

  UMPIRES: D J Harper (Australia) and K Hariharan (India).

  MATCH REFEREE: A G Hurst (Australia).

  TELEVISION: Channel 4: 10am-6pm, live coverage. Sky Sports 1: 10.30pm-midnight, highlights.

  RADIO: BBC Radio 4 (198 LW): live coverage.

  WEATHER: 23C, partly cloudy with sunny spells.