Stuart Broad up for Lord's ahead of Bresnan

Stuart Broad came through stage one of his rehabilitation for the Lord's Test - and must now satisfy the selectors that he is worth his place ahead of Tim Bresnan.

Both seamers were included in a predictable 12-man squad, announced yesterday, but it is unlikely they will appear together against India on Thursday.

National selector Geoff Miller explained that a watching brief in Nottingham had persuaded him and his colleagues that Broad is returning to form in time for England's major assignment of the summer against the world's number one Test team.

Broad played a four-day LV= County Championship match for title-holders Nottinghamshire at home to Somerset last week, and responded with match figures of 53.4-13-162-6 on a benign surface that yielded a stalemate.

"We watched him bowl here at Trent Bridge in the four-day game," said Miller. "And there were signs he was getting back to where he was."

Bresnan is back in an England Test squad for the first time since helping his country to the historic Ashes series victory in Australia last winter.

While Broad was injured for the last three matches of that series, Bresnan came of age with 11 wickets in the last two - before succumbing to a calf strain that recurred to rule him out of this summer's 1-0 Test series victory over Sri Lanka.

It is the Nottinghamshire seamer, though, rather than his Yorkshire counterpart who probably starts this week as marginal favourite to fill the last place in an England attack otherwise populated by the pace of Chris Tremlett and James Anderson and Graeme Swann's world-beating off-spin.

Miller said of Broad: "We know what he is capable of doing, and when he puts on that England shirt we feel sure he will show exactly that and produce the goods and make it difficult for India.

"They (Broad and Bresnan] are two bowlers who can produce on the day, and we are looking forward to them producing at Lord's."

England are hoping they can make home conditions count, in pursuit of victory in a four-match series that will see them usurp India at the top of the International Cricket Council rankings if they can prevail by two matches or more. "Pace and bounce would be nice for our bowlers certainly," added Miller. "We've got a strong batting line-up. But it's about producing on the day.

"It's tough for India to come straight over from the West Indies and play in our conditions. It hasn't been ideal preparation for them.

"They didn't seem to do particularly well with the bat the other day (in their first innings against Somerset] - but that doesn't mean they won't be able to turn it on at Lord's."

England squad (for first npower Test v India, starting at Lord's on 21 July): AJ Strauss (captain), AN Cook, IJL Trott, KP Pietersen, IR Bell, EJG Morgan, MJ Prior (wkt), SCJ Broad, GP Swann, CT Tremlett, JM Anderson, TT Bresnan.