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England cricket team’s captain Andrew Strauss insisted on Wednesday his team was finally coming to terms with the injury crisis which has sidelined several of the side’s Ashes-winning stars.

Strauss leads England in the second Test of the ongoing series with Pakistan, starting at Old Trafford here on Thursday, with a very different team to the one that enjoyed a memorable draw against Australia at the Manchester venue in 2005.

England will be without Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan (knee), all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (ankle), whom they had hoped would skipper the side at his Lancashire home ground in Vaughan’s absence, as well as bowlers Simon Jones (knee) and spinner Ashley Giles (hip).

Australian paceman Glenn McGrath will demonstrate his fitness in front of the selectors in Brisbane on Wednesday after six months away from competitive cricket.

McGrath last played for Australia in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Perth at the end of January before missing the tours of South Africa and Bangladesh to spend time with his wife Jane, who is fighting cancer.

She gave her blessing in June for him to return to action and the 36-year-old will bowl in front of coach John Buchanan and bowling coach Troy Cooley at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence to assess when he can return to the Australia set-up.

The Cricket Australia (CA) said on Tuesday that it wanted to help the English Test stars such as Andrew Flintoff overcome their injuries, because it would make defeating them to reclaim the Ashes so much sweeter.

England has been plagued with injuries since claiming the Ashes for the first time in 18 years last September, with all-rounder Flintoff the latest sidelined as he undergoes surgery on a troublesome ankle.

The England chairman of selectors David Graveney has suggested Flintoff and injured spinner Ashley Giles play club cricket in Australia to regain match fitness before the touring squad arrives in Australia in November.

Australia must treat the upcoming Ashes series against England like any other to avoid the performance anxiety that contributed to them losing the trophy last year, captain Ricky Ponting said.

Ponting said he wanted calm heads to prevail during the blockbuster cricket series, warning a desire for revenge could be counter-productive. “The more sometimes you build things up the harder it can be to perform,” Ponting told reporters. “We’ll make sure that we’re not treating it any differently or any more serious than any other series we’ve played in.”

Ashwell Prince leads South Africa as it’s the first black captain in the Test series against Sri Lanka here from Thursday knowing he may have inspired a new generation of players back home.

“For someone who dared not dream of playing international cricket as a youngster, it’s a big honour,” Prince said in an interview ahead of the first Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC).

Prince, 29, was appointed skipper for the two-Test series after regular captain Graeme Smith twisted an ankle prior to the tour and vice-captain Jacques Kallis was ruled out with a tennis elbow injury.

India will bounce back from the 4-1 One-day International (ODI) series defeat in the West Indies in May and win an overdue trophy in next month’s triangular series in Sri Lanka, leading off-spinner Harbhajan Singh forecast.

South Africa are the third team in the August 14-29 tournament.

Harbhajan said that before joining the conditioning camp that began in Bangalore on Tuesday India were fully capable of beating hosts Sri Lanka at home. “They know their conditions and know the total which can help them win. But having beaten them 6-1 in India last year, Sri Lanka obviously know we are a very different side now.”

With the second Test at Old Trafford just a day away, the suspense over the inclusion of googly maestro Mushtaq Ahmed in the Pakistan team is still not over.

The Pakistan cricket team coach Bob Woolmer doesn’t look very interested in recalling Mushtaq but is also not ready to close the chapter.

The Pakistan Team manager Zaheer Abbas, in contrast, continues to strongly support Mushtaq’s case saying that the experienced leg-spinner can actually boost Pakistan’s chances of winning the second Test.

Sri Lanka are in a dilemma over the role that former captain Sanath Jayasuriya will play when the two-Test series against South Africa starts on Thursday.

The depleted tourists, on the other hand, appear to have worked out the combination that will take the field at the Sinhalese sports club under their first black captain Ashwell Prince.

The contrasting mood in the rival camps is unexpected. The South Africans were the ones in trouble in the absence of three top stars in regular captain Graeme Smith and leading all-rounders Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock.

If Peter Marron was at the helm of Pakistan team selection for the second Test against England at Old Trafford, he would have picked veteran leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed in the playing line-up.

The head groundsman at Old Trafford believes that the wicket at this historic ground is going to support the spinners and bowler like Mushtaq, with his vast experience and skills, could play havoc against the home team in the Test getting underway from Thursday.

“I don’t know whether they have called that Sussex bowler (Mushtaq Ahmed) for this Test but I believe that he could really do well on this pitch,” Marron told this correspondent.

Pakistan suffered a fresh injury scare when all-rounder Shahid Afridi sustained a blow on his elbow while batting in the nets here at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

“The ball hit me high on my elbow. There is some swelling and it’s a bit painful,” Afridi told this correspondent before leaving the nets.

Afridi, a key member of the Pakistan line-up because of his twin role as a useful leg-spinner and a handy batsman, was going for a pull while batting in the nets when the ball hit him, leaving the player with a bruised and swollen elbow. He seemed in pain and got some extensive ice treatment before leaving the team practice halfway through.