Three in line for England

Captaincy candidates: Trescothick and Atherton

England's captain for the second Ashes Test against Australia is likely to be chosen from a short-list of three.

Chairman of selectors David Graveney indicated that the names of former skippers Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart would be discussed, along with Marcus Trescothick.

A new captain is needed because Nasser Hussain will be out of action for three weeks after the little finger of his left hand was cracked by a ball from Jason Gillespie at Edgbaston.

But Hussain will have an input into who takes over for the game at Lord's, which starts on 19 July.

"Alec has done it, Athers has done it and there's lots of debate about Marcus being next in line," said Graveney

"I don't think we would bring anyone else in from the outside and I know Mark Butcher has done it once before, but he's only just come back into the team."

The situation is complicated by the fact that Stewart, who led England in the second Test against Pakistan and the one-day NatWest Series after Hussain broke his right thumb, has made it plain he does not want the job again.

In his column for the CricInfo website, he wrote: "I've been captain and done everything that's been asked of me, and I think it's better to look to the future now, so I won't be putting my hand up for the job."

Stewart: Had his fill of international captaincy

Stewart believes there are plenty of other candidates available.

"There's Atherton and Gough of the seniors, and Trescothick of the younger players. Mark Butcher has captained England before, so has Graham Thorpe. I'm happy to play under any of them."

Atherton captained England in 52 Tests between 1993 and 1998, winning only 13 of them, and was in charge when Australia last toured in 1997.

He was offered the chance to stand in as captain two years ago when Hussain fractured his right middle finger, but said no.

It could therefore mean that the selectors have no option to turn to Trescothick, who has been an international player for only 12 months.

The 25-year-old led the England under-19 side against South Africa in 1995, but captaincy opportunities have been limited since then.

If Trescothick is chosen, he will have plenty of experienced heads around him.

"We'll retain Nasser in the squad for the longest possible time because the biggest disruption we've had over the last couple of months has been losing Nasser, which is no reflection on the stand-in captain.

"It's just a very difficult job for a stand-in captain and Nasser's done a fantastic job as a leader of the team and his presence is needed all the time," Graveney added.

Graham Thorpe would have been another obvious candidate, but his exclusion from Graveney's list suggests he may struggle to recover from his calf injury in time for Lord's.

The selectors, meanwhile, must also consider who will replace Hussain as a batsman with Mark Ramprakash, John Crawley and Owais Shah among those likely to be considered.

Ramprakash was picked for the first Test at Edgbaston, which Australia won by an innings and 118 runs, but had to pull out because of injury.

The squad for the second Test will be named on Sunday.