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England [Images] 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.

• Hero and villian emerge from SA

It is the same lineup that beat New Zealand [Images] 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 [Images] told Sky Sports.

"We improved during the New Zealand series but this is going to be a real challenge for us."

Andrew Flintoff [Images] 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 [Images], Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood [Images], Alastair Cook [Images], Kevin Pietersen [Images], Monty Panesar [Images], Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Strauss [Images].