BIRMINGHAM (England), July 29: Paul Collingwood, without a Test century in more than a year, was recalled to the England side along with fit-again bowler Ryan Sidebottom for the third Test against South Africa starting on Wednesday.

Fast bowler Steve Harmison named in the preliminary 13-man squad and hoping for a recall after being dropped after the winter tour to New Zealand, was left out along with Stuart Broad.

“We felt on this ground the extra depth in our batting would help,” Vaughan told reporters at Edgbaston on Tuesday. “We felt the three-man seam attack and Monty [Panesar], who should bowl more this week, was good enough to bring us the result we need to get back in the series.”

England trail 1-0 after losing the second Test by 10 wickets at Headingley.

“Harmy was very close [to being picked]. It’s a sign for him that he has got a chance of getting back in the squad. He’s not in the eleven this week but who’s to say he won’t be in the eleven the week after,” added Vaughan.

While Broad has managed three wickets at an average of 96 in the two matches so far, Collingwood has scored just 92 runs in first-class cricket all season in nine innings, with a top score of 44 not out for his county side Durham.

“He has struggled of late,” Vaughan said of Collingwood, who was dropped for the second Test.

“But he averages over 40 in Test cricket, he brings his fielding, his energy, his bowling on this kind of wicket could be useful, he is a good man to have around the team and he is a good thinker on the game. He knows he needs to start scoring runs, as a few of us do.”

Left-armer Sidebottom, England’s top-ranked bowler, is recovered from a stiff back.

South Africa are set to play Andre Nel in place of fast bowler Dale Steyn, who sustained a broken left thumb in the previous Test and was advised to take two to three weeks rest.

Nel has pledged to keep his fiery temper under control.

“I was messing around with our computer guy one day and he said sometimes when I go on to the field I’m like those guys who live up in the mountains and have a lack of oxygen to the brain,” Nel told reporters.

“I’ll be pumped up but I’ll be a smarter pumped up. I don’t think I’ll be overboard any more. I’ve got smarter with time so I am looking forward to it. I have calmed down. There will still be ‘white line fever’ but just a bit more tame.”

South Africa are seeking their first series win in England since 1965 while England will be trying to return to the form they showed when they enforced the follow-on in the drawn first Test at Lord’s.

The second Test witnessed a below-par performance from England, especially their batsmen, and they only escaped an innings loss through an unbeaten 67 from tailender Broad.

The selectors, after being heavily criticised for picking little-known swing bowler Darren Pattinson at Leeds, dropped him after his debut.

Opening batsman Alastair Cook acknowledged England need to be more switched on this week.

“At Lord’s we got 593 for eight so you don’t become a bad batting unit overnight,” Cook said. “We didn’t play that well as a batting unit at Headingley, we will admit that we made mistakes. The challenge is to bounce back.

While opener Neil McKenzie will be playing his 50th Test match South Africa will look to Jacques Kallis to regain his formidable Test form.

Kallis, who is South Africa’s highest-scoring batsman in Test history, has scores of seven, 13 and four in the four-Test series so far.

’”It’s quite tough to get in, but once you’re established then you can score,” Kallis said. “’I’ve just got to stick it out.”

In the most recent tour match against Bangladesh ‘A’ the 32-year-old all-rounder showed signs of improvement with undefeated scores of 70 and 55.

“Jacques has a hunger about him that I have not seen before,” South African coach Mickey Arthur said on Wednesday. “He has seen all his colleagues in the top six make centuries and, although he is naturally delighted for them, he will be itching for a big score himself at Edgbaston.”

Kallis has 9,681 runs from 121 Tests, including 30 centuries.

“The day after we won the Test at Headingley there was an optional net practice at the ground and the only man who turned up was Jacques,” Arthur said.

Teams:

England: Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan (captain), Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Tim Ambrose, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson, Monty Panesar.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, A.B. de Villiers, Mark Boucher, Paul Harris, Morne Morkel, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Steve Davis (Australia)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).—Agencies