Hoggard joins Harmison in the injury list ..

Matthew Hoggard, the Yorkshire and England bowler, is classed extremely doubtful for tomorrow's first test against India at Lord's.

Hoggard, who suffered a back spasm in training yesterday, was sent from an MRI today and appears likely to join Stephen Harmison (hernia) and Andrew Flintoff (ankle) on the sidelines. In his absence, Chris Tremlett and Stuart Broad will lead a relatively inexperienced and un-tested bowling attack for England, who are also waiting on the return of Simon Jones.

"It will be a bigger challenge," Michael Vaughan, the England captain, said. "The Indian side are full of experience, probably more so in the batting so it's going to be an exciting challenge for our young four-man attack to try to outdo them and get 20 wickets in a Test match.

"Of course inexperience is new but it's exciting. We don't have Harmison, Flintoff, Ashley Giles and Simon Jones from that great attack we had in 2005. But it's new, it's very exciting for us all to see how they [the new attack] react to playing in front of a lot of people and against a very good batting team."

Vaughan, who five years ago scored 615 runs against India at an average of 102.50, said of the upcoming three-game series: "When the Indians come you always know they are going to create a great atmosphere in and around the ground with their support," he said. "They are always great series to play in. I always feel like I play quite well at Lord's."