Nottinghamshire spinner Graeme Swann has been named alongside Monty Panesar in the England team to face Australia in the first npower Ashes Test in Cardiff.

Swann and Panesar are the first spinners to be named in the same England Test side since Robert Croft and Ashley Giles were selected to face South Africa at Old Trafford in 1998.

“The wicket looks good and we expect there to be a little bit in it early on for the seamers and then for the spinners later on,” said England Captain Andrew Strauss.

“Two spinners gives us more balance because left armer can attack left and right handers differently and it gives us a measure of control with options up our sleeve.”

Stuart Broad is the other Nottinghamshire representative in the side with Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson completing the pace attack.

England: 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Andrew Flintoff, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Monty Panesar

Australia: 1 Simon Katich, 2 Phillip Hughes, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Marcus North, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Peter Siddle