All-rounder Andrew Flintoff was recalled to the national team on Monday after England took only three South African wickets on the last two days of the first Test at Lord's.
England dominated the first three days with bat and then ball before the tenacious South Africans regrouped to force a draw. Their top three batsmen, captain Graeme Smith, Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla, each scored centuries on a pitch which became steadily slower.
Former captain Flintoff, 30, who has not played Test cricket since January last year, is the only the change to an England 12 named shortly after a sixth successive Test draw at the game's world headquarters.
Before the match South Africa coach Mickey Arthur suggested the England attack was missing a true express bowler and Flintoff looks certain to play in the second Test starting at Headingley in Leeds on Friday. Pace bowler Chris Tremlett, the 12th man at Lord's after England named the same team for the sixth test in a row, has been omitted.
A fourth operation on Flintoff's chronically injured left ankle has been successful and his current form with the ball for his county Lancashire shows he has made a full recovery from a side strain which sidelined him temporarily.
BROAD VULNERABLE
"I have always had it in the back of my mind to get Freddie back in the team," England captain Michael Vaughan told a news conference.
"He has had that 18 months out of the game. He's not a wizard, he's not going to come and sprinkle dust.
"Eighteen months is a long time out of the game and he may take a little time to adjust. But he has a bit of an X Factor about him and when he gets the ball he can make things happen."
Paul Collingwood, given out caught for seven in the first innings when television replays shows the ball struck his pad, looks the player likely to miss out if England drop a batsman.
Stuart Broad, despite an excellent 76 in England's innings, is the most vulnerable of the bowlers if England stick with a four-man attack.
Vaughan said he would decide on the balance of his side once he had assessed the conditions at Headingley.
"Both options are still available to us," Vaughan said, adding that he might delay naming a team until Friday morning after a final look at the pitch.
Amla, who finished on 104 not out in his first Test at Lord's after nearly six hours of painstaking application, said South Africa would take a lot out of the match after they looked down and out on Saturday evening when they were asked to follow on.
"We do take a lot of momentum from this," he said. "We batted two days and lost three wickets. England were a bit more battle-hardened than us.\
"On the first two days we were just sitting back a little bit."
McKenzie, who batted for more than nine hours before he was finally caught off a tired shot for 138, said he had just tried to bat out time.
"It's a role that I haven't really played too often," he said. "And the crowd probably though thank goodness I don't play it too often."
