England's floundering Ashes prospects were struck a body blow today when Graham Thorpe was ruled out of thethird test just days after returning from a six-week injury lay-off.
The Surrey left-hander, regarded by Australia as England's top batsman, fractured a bone in his right hand while batting in the second test atLord's on Saturday.
An X-ray on Sunday failed to diagnose the problem after Thorpe was hit by a Brett Lee delivery. But a specialist today confirmed Thorpe had an undisplaced fracture in the metacarpal bone of his right hand.
Thorpe had been rushed back into the England side at Lord's because of an injury crisis - not even managing a warm-up game with his county.
He scored 20 and two as England were humiliated again to go 2-0 down in the five-match series against the world's top-ranked side.
The injury means that England could go into the third test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, without three of their top batsmen.
Captain Nasser Hussain, who has suffered two fractures of the hand this season already, has not played again. Number three batsman Michael Vaughan looks set to miss his third test in a row following surgery on a knee cartilage.