With all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (ankle), fast bowler Stephen Harmison (hernia) and swing specialist Matthew Hoggard (back) all not fit for Test cricket, England stood by the same group of bowlers they had available for the seven-wicket second Test defeat at Trent Bridge, which ended last Tuesday.

However, uncapped pace bowler Stuart Broad will be pushing hard for a Test debut at The Oval, where the third Test starts Thursday.

England's chairman of selectors, David Graveney, said after announcing the squad: "While India fully deserved their victory at Trent Bridge, there were many positive aspects to our performance.

"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.

"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 and we have retained the same twelve players who were on duty at Trent Bridge."

Pitches at The Oval tend to reward tall bowlers, such as Broad and fellow quick Chris Tremlett, capable of extracting sharp bounce.

If Broad were to play he would most likely take the place of swing bowler James Anderson.

England, despite being bowled out for a first innings 198 at Trent Bridge, made no changes to their batting line-up.

Their unbeaten run in home Test campaigns stretches back 11 series (eight wins and three draws) spans 41 Tests since a 2001 Ashes defeat.

"We have been one-nil 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.

If India avoid defeat at The Oval, where England haven't lost a Test for six years, they will win only their third Test series in England following successes in 1971 (1-0) and 1986 (2-0).

England, last year in India, came back from 1-0 down to square the series 1-1.

Up until three years ago India had won only one series out of 19 against major Test opposition on foreign soil since their last triumph in England.

But victory in Pakistan was followed up last year by a 1-0 win in a four-match series in the West Indies.

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