Inevitably, this being Lord's and England's opponents being Australia, the talk yesterday was of the past as well as of an Andrew Flintoff-less future. There was also talk of one-upmanship as it emerged after Flintoff's press conference that Kevin Pietersen had been given another injection in his Achilles tendon on Tuesday.

Pietersen also had a further relieving injection in his back before the first npower Test at the SWALEC Stadium, which suggests that the injury he suffered in the Caribbean, and aggravated in the Indian Premier League, continues to give him trouble.

Either that or he did not fancy “Freddie” dominating the news. Ian Bell, the reserve batsman, was released to play for Warwickshire, however, so Pietersen will certainly get his chance in the limelight.

While Bell was allowed to make his way up the M1, there was no release for Stephen Harmison, given the continued uncertainty surrounding Flintoff. Andrew Strauss intimated that the all-rounder was favoured to play, something made more likely by the timing of the announcement.

England need all the inspirational figures they can muster because they have not beaten Australia at Lord's since 1934. Seventy-five years is a long time not to have beaten opponents you play once in every four on home soil, but, as Strauss said, with the kind of understated irony that Stephen Fry used to good effect at the England captain's benefit dinner the night before, the England team have changed quite a bit in that time.

There have been many reasons put forward for Australia's peculiar dominance at the home of English cricket, most based upon the way the occasion and the venue seem to diminish the home side as much as they inspire the visiting team. “Lord's and its traditions belong just as much to Australia as to England,” John Curtin, the Australian Prime Minister from 1941 to 1945, once said.

But in recent years, there has been one main reason why Australia have played so well at Lord's, and you don't need to be a history graduate or a student of cultural phenomena to know why. You just need to have watched the Narromine Nagger, otherwise known as Glenn McGrath, create havoc from the Pavilion End.

McGrath had an outstanding record at Lord's - 26 wickets at 11.50 in three Tests, with three five-wicket hauls - and his absence this year is the biggest reason why England can look forward to greater returns and with greater optimism than before.

It also provides a clue as to whom England should replace Monty Panesar with, given that the pitch looks unlikely to take spin and that the slow left-armer looked unthreatening in Cardiff. McGrath was a line bowler who bowled close to the stumps and excelled in creating uncertainty in the minds of right-handers who were not sure whether to play - fearing the nip-backer down the slope - or to leave the ball.

The nearest England have to that, and this in no way means that he should be compared to McGrath, is Graham Onions. The Durham fast-medium bowler should, and probably will, come in for Panesar to be given the chance to progress his Test career beyond the two matches he played against West Indies at the start of the summer. He would bowl well from the Pavilion End and would ask more searching questions of Australia's left-handers than any England bowler bar Flintoff.

Whether he will get the chance to partner Harmison, his county team-mate, is unlikely. If Flintoff plays, Harmison probably will not, although it could be argued that he is more likely to trouble Australia than Stuart Broad on what feels like a firm pitch.

But the selectors will not want to drop Broad after one poor match, so Harmison will have to bide his time. If England have uncertainties over selection, it is because battle plans rarely survive engagement. But, for Ricky Ponting and Australia, things are more settled, the captain hinting that he would name an unchanged side. Ponting is one Australia player not to have been inspired to great deeds at this ground, his top score in Tests being 42. How he would love to poop Freddie's party.

How they line up

England (from): A J Strauss (captain), A N Cook, R S Bopara, K P Pietersen, P D Collingwood, M J Prior, A Flintoff, S C J Broad, G P Swann, J M Anderson, M S Panesar, G Onions, S J Harmison.

Australia (from): R T Ponting (captain), P J Hughes, S M Katich, M J Clarke, M E K Hussey, M J North, B J Haddin, A B McDonald, M G Johnson, P M Siddle, S R Clark, N M Hauritz, B W Hilfenhaus, G Manou.

Umpires: B R Doctrove (West Indies) and R E Koertzen (South Africa).

Third umpire: N J Llong.

Match referee: J J Crowe (New Zealand).

Weather: Partly cloudy, maximum 23C (about 73F).

Television: Live on Sky Sports 1 from 10am (match starts 11am); highlights on Five from 7.15pm and Sky Sports 1 from 8pm and midnight.