England suffer Thorpe blow

Graham Thorpe only returned to action at Lord's

England have been struck by yet another injury blow and once again it is to Graham Thorpe, their key batsman.

Thorpe will see a specialst in Monday to determine the extent of his hand injury - he has a suspected broken bone in his right hand but an x-ray on Sunday morning proved inconclusive.

The Surrey left-hander was struck during a blistering spell of fast bowling by Brett Lee on Saturday.

He was hit on the glove by a vicious delivery shortly before he fell LBW to Lee.

"It would be a big disappointment if Graham was out," saidcoach Duncan Fletcher.

"He's really played well for us, he looked good in the first innings and we need him in the side because he's a very experienced and top class player."

Thorpe only returned to the side at Lord's after six weeks out of action with a calf injury.

Over the last 18 months he has proved himself England's best batsman and they can ill afford to be without him for the third Test.

They are currently without captain Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard.