Australia's Brett Lee has recovered from a knee infection in time for the third Ashes Test starting on Thursday, while Glenn McGrath is still clinging to the hope of also playing at Old Trafford.
An Australia spokesman said Lee was fit and available for selection but McGrath would be assessed on Wednesday evening and again on the morning of the match.
Lee spent two nights in hospital in Birmingham on an intravenous drip and receiving antibiotics after a graze on his left knee became inflamed. He rejoined the squad on Wednesday morning and bowled at full pace in an afternoon nets session.
McGrath, who damaged ankle ligaments after stepping on a cricket ball just before the start of the second Test and ended up on crutches, also had a bowling session on Wednesday.
- Ashes 2005: Complete coverage
He was not at full pace but did not look in great discomfort and also went through a series of running drills.
Man of the match in Australia's win in the first Test, McGrath had still been limping on Monday. His captain Ricky Ponting would dearly like him back after England fought back at Edgbaston to win by two runs and level the five-match series.
PRETTY KEEN
"It hurt him a lot not taking part in the last Test match so he will be pretty keen to prove everybody wrong," Ponting said.
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The Old Trafford pitch is also expected to be hard and fast, favouring their quicks, although it will also offer Shane Warne, one away from becoming the first man to 600 Test wickets, some turn later in the match.
The reaction of the two teams to last week's emotion-sapping drama at Edgbaston may prove as critical as the conditions.
England, needing just two wickets and with 106 runs to play with on the final morning, looked home and dry but only just sneaked home.
Vaughan likened it to a helter-skelter ride while Marcus Trescothick told the Daily Telegraph that a second defeat "would have crucified us. We felt we had aged 10 years out there".
Ponting talked of gnawed finger nails. He is looking for a more considered approach at Old Trafford, especially from his top-order batsmen. No player from either side has yet scored a century.
"It just seems like last two Tests have been in fast forward, " he said.
"If we can get the game into the fifth day we will be happy because it means the whole tempo would have slowed down and hopefully that means some of our guys will have batted for extended periods."
INDIVIDUAL WEAKNESSES
Australia have been happy to highlight English individual weaknesses to date. On Wednesday, Ponting limited himself to discussing his own team.
"We are saying all the right things but we have to focus on the areas where we have been deficient. We probably haven't been as sharp or disciplined as we have in other series. We have let ourselves down at crucial times."
But he accepted that England, with Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison to the fore, represented a genuine challenge. "We are in a tough, hard series and we have got a fight on our hands," he said.
Australia are considering using two spinners at Old Trafford, with leg spinner Stuart MacGill supplementing Warne, but there is also a good chance that both sides will be unchanged.
The one England question mark hangs over Matthew Hoggard, with only five wickets to date and struggling to swing the ball in the dry conditions. He could make way for uncapped seamer Chris Tremlett.
Australia, seeking their ninth Ashes series win, have won the last three Old Trafford matches in 1989, 1993 and 1997.
