Rain puts England hopes on hold

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Leading 1-0 in the five-Test series following their 115-run victory at Lord's, England had hoped to build on that momentum in Birmingham today. But rain, which has engulfed Edgbaston for the last two days, forced umpires Rudi Koertzen and Aleem Dar to rule out play before lunch and they will take another look at 3.30pm.

The delay to the start of the match also prevented England from exploiting the uncertainty within Australia's squad, which was underlined by reports they had dropped 20-year-old opener Phillip Hughes.

Having enjoyed a prolific stint with Middlesex earlier this summer, Hughes was expected to be one of the stars of this Ashes series but after scoring 57 runs in three innings during the first two Tests, Australia are understood to have replaced him with all-rounder Shane Watson.

The news was announced via Hughes' Twitter account, but the posting was believed to have been made by his management company after they were told the news by their client.

Hughes' sudden axing follows his struggles against the short ball but is still surprising because Watson has never batted higher than number six for Australia in a Test before.

Watson secured his recall following a groin injury after scoring 84 and 50 on his return to action against Northamptonshire last week.

England were expected to resist the temptation to tamper too much with a winning line-up, beyond the need to replace the injured Kevin Pietersen with Ian Bell, and were tipped to leave Steve Harmison out again.