England set a world record by naming an unchanged team for Thursday's first Test against South Africa at Lord's -- their sixth match in a row with the same XI.
As usual, seam bowler Chris Tremlett missed out when the team was announced on Wednesday after being named in the 12-man squad last week.
It is the same lineup that beat New Zealand in a three-Test series earlier this summer and which featured in the last two Tests of the 2-1 series win in New Zealand this year.
The first Test starting on Thursday will be followed by games at Headingley, Edgbaston and The Oval.
"We've developed a decent unit of players but we have to try our performance," captain Michael Vaughan told Sky Sports.
"We improved during the New Zealand series but this is going to be a real challenge for us."
Andrew Flintoff joined the England players for an indoor training session on Wednesday as Lords was soaked after another morning of heavy rain, though the forecast is better for Thursday.
The all-rounder, who is coming back from an ankle injury, could come into contention for the later Tests in the series.
England Test team:
Michael Vaughan (captain), Tim Ambrose, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Monty Panesar, Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Strauss.
