England have not won an Ashes Test at Lord's for 71 years, but several omens suggest that over the next five days they can overturn their appalling record at the home of cricket.

Not only have they won their last three Tests at Lord's by heavy margins, against New Zealand, West Indies and Bangladesh, but several players have put in match-winning performances in the process.

"I've no idea why England haven't won here [against Australia]for so long," said Michael Vaughan on the eve of the game. "But this team had no part in it. We feel very comfortable here. We've put in a lot of good performances in Tests and one-day games and individuals have played well here, and that is very important."

Vaughan himself has made five Test centuries at Lord's, including his last three and two in the same game against West Indies last year. And Middlesex's Andrew Strauss scored a hundred on Test debut against New Zealand last year and another ton against West Indies later that summer.

Other England batsmen on the Lord's honours board are Marcus Trescothick, following his 194 against Bangladesh a few weeks ago, and Andrew Flintoff, who made 142 against South Africa in 2003. And Geraint Jones played England back into the game in the NatWest Series final at the home of cricket.

Of the bowlers, Ashley Giles took 5-58 against West Indies at Lord's last year, and Simon Jones bowled an energetic spell in that same game to drag England back from a tricky situation.

England will need to draw heavily on these players' confidence to match Australia on a ground which, as Ricky Ponting pointed out, "feels like a second home to us and is always an inspiration", and where the Australian captain has "never lost a game of cricket".

The assured tone of Ponting's comments about Lord's was typical of his pre-match media performance, during which he said there was "no reason we can't win 5-0 if we play our best" and claimed that England's inexperience in the middle-order was a "massive negative".

The cocksure Ponting was an enormous contrast to the harried and bedraggled figure he cut earlier in the tour. Coming off two consecutive tons, in the last ODI and against Leicestershire, it is no surprise he looks more relaxed.

When asked about the comments of Matthew Hoggard that Australia's bowlers were ageing and might flag, he responded sharply: "I can't imagine any of their batters said that!"

Vaughan was far more downbeat and refused to make any predictions about the series, but that is probably wise in that Australia are the ones with the bragging rights for the moment.

"If Australia believe they will win 5-0 then fair enough," Vaughan said. "We firmly believe they won't win 5-0. But I think it's important not to get too far ahead of yourselves. We are looking to put Australia under pressure, and if we put in a good level of performance maybe we will go 1-0 up."

"We are not focusing too much on individuals," he added. "We need a lot of players to do well to win the Ashes, not just two or three. But we've had many great individual performances over the past two years."

One thing the captains did agree on is that there will be no referrals of catches to the third umpire. Fielders will be asked if they caught the ball cleanly and the umpires on the field will adjudicate.

"I don't think the referrals to the third umpire are good for cricket," said Ponting. "We are trying to get away from technology wherever possible and back to the spirit of the game."

Vaughan announced the anticipated England XI, but Ponting said his XI depended on conditions on the day. Jason Gillespie is expected to have fully recovered from a sore knee but all five pacemen will be considered, including Shaun Tait.

The war of words has finally ended and both teams will take the field with some relief after the longest phoney war in Ashes history. Australia may be favourites with the satchel swingers, but England's recent form at Lord's gives them grounds for most than just hope.

England: MP Vaughan (capt), ME Trescothick, AJ Strauss, IR Bell, KP Pietersen, A Flintoff, GO Jones, AF Giles, MJ Hoggard, SP Jones, SJ Harmison.

Australia (probable): RT Ponting (capt), JL Langer, ML Hayden, DR Martyn, MJ Clarke, SM Katich, AC Gilchrist, SK Warne, JN Gillespie, B Lee, GD McGrath.

20 Jul, 2005