England's stand-in skipper Michael Atherton is banking on the side's ability to come from behind to overturn the 1-0 series deficit against Australia at Lord's tomorrow.

Though history may not be on their side - they have beaten Australia at Lord's only once in a 100 years and that was in 1934 - Atherton is looking at more recent times for inspiration.

England came from 1-0 behind last summer to defeat the West Indies 3-1 and, on their winter tour of the sub-continent, they overturned a 1-0 deficit to beat Sri Lanka 2-1.

Atherton said: "This is pretty much the team that's been around for the last 12-18 months. I think we've shown a lot of character in that time, we've shown a lot of spirit in difficult circumstances, we've come back from behind on a couple of occasions.

"We've won twice on the sub-continent and you only do that with a spirited team that's got a lot of character inside it, and that is what we've shown in the last 12-18 months. And it's time to show it again in this game.

"Clearly we want to play in a better fashion than we did at Edgbaston; we want to take our chances in the field, we want to bowl more consistently and we want to put bigger scores on the board, and if we do that I think then the end result will look after itself."

In fact, Atherton believes that though Australia won by an innings at Edgbaston, the actual difference between the sides was not that great, and if England had made more of their opportunities they would have run Australia closer.

"In the end we lost by a massive margin, but I think there were times within the game when we could have made it closer had we accepted the chances on offer," Atherton added. "There were certain critical periods when Australia took their chances and we didn't. And if we get those chances in this game, I hope to convert more of them.

"We very much respect their recent record, we respect the type of cricket they've been playing but we are still confident and have belief that we can still compete with them.

"Whether you go in as favourites or underdogs, whether the expectation is there or not, you've still got to play good cricket to win the game and that doesn't change.

"I'm looking very much forward to the game, it's a fantastic occasion. I hope we can do it justice."

At least England's middle order should be bolstered by the return of Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash, allowing Usman Afzaal to join Nottinghamshire for the match against Hampshire.

The only remaining selection choice should be between Dominic Cork, left-arm spinner Ashley Giles and Yorkshire fast bowler Chris Silverwood, with Cork probably the favourite because of his fine record at Lord's.

Atherton said: "Edgbaston was slightly frenetic with players coming and going. I think this time we are slightly more settled, Ramprakash and Thorpe are back after injuries. I hope they can turn it on."

Atherton explained his reason for taking back the captaincy on a temporary basis: "Rather extraordinary circumstances made me come back to the captaincy. I went away from Edgbaston and made up my mind on Monday if I was going to be asked what my response would be, and on Thursday the appointment came.

"I thought it would be the right thing to do to accept. Nasser's injured at the moment, Alec Stewart's got a difficult task keeping wicket and batting and it's been a tough month for him with other things going on as well.

"I can only speak for myself and I was happy to take the responsibility this time.

"All the players have got a great deal of respect for our coach Duncan Fletcher and, when he spoke to me, we were in a strange situation with the captain injured, and therefore I felt it would have been wrong to turn away from him, and that's why I accepted it on this occasion."

Teams and officials:

England (from): MA Atherton (capt), ME Trescothick, MA Butcher, GP Thorpe, AJ Stewart (wkt), IJ Ward, MR Ramprakash, C White, DG Cork, D Gough, AR Caddick, AF Giles, CEW Silverwood.

Australia: SR Waugh (capt), MJ Slater, ML Hayden, RT Ponting, ME Waugh, DR Martyn, AC Gilchrist (wkt), SK Warne, B Lee, JN Gillespie, GD McGrath.

Umpires: SA Bucknor (WI) & J Holder.

Third umpire: JW Lloyds.

Match referee: Talat Ali (Pak).

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