England have not beaten South Africa at Lord's since 1960 - the last of four straight wins. Since readmission, three South African wins were followed by the draw in 2008.
Since his Test debut in 2005, England have played three Tests without Kevin Pietersen in their side. They were in the 2009 Ashes series, which they drew at Edgbaston, lost at Headingley and won at The Oval.
Strauss: England skipper will be playing in his 100th Test this week
Andrew Strauss becomes the ninth England player to play in 100 Tests. He has already participated in more England Test victories than any other player:
| Name | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | Win percentage | |
| AJ Strauss | 99 | 47 | 25 | 27 | 47.47 | |
| MC Cowdrey | 114 | 43 | 21 | 50 | 37.71 | |
| MP Vaughan | 82 | 39 | 20 | 23 | 47.56 | |
| AJ Stewart | 133 | 39 | 54 | 40 | 29.32 | |
| GP Thorpe | 100 | 38 | 29 | 33 | 38.00 |
Ricky Ponting is the all-time leader, having won 108 Tests with Australia.
Strauss captains England for the 50th time - just the third man to achieve that feat:
| Captain | Captained | Won | Lost | Drawn | Win percentage | ||
| MP Vaughan | 51 | 26 | 11 | 14 | 50.98 | ||
| AJ Strauss | 49 | 24 | 10 | 15 | 48.97 | ||
| MA Atherton | 54 | 13 | 21 | 20 | 24.07 |
Graeme Smith is captaining his 94th Test, surpassing Allan Border's Test record.
Matt Prior needs 32 runs to become just the third England wicket-keeper to score 3000 Test runs. Les Ames holds the England record of eight Test centuries as a wicketkeeper.
| Name | Matches | Innings | NO | Runs | HS | Avg | 100 | 50 |
| AJ Stewart | 82 | 145 | 15 | 4540 | 173 | 34.92 | 6 | 23 |
| APE Knott | 95 | 149 | 15 | 4389 | 135 | 32.75 | 5 | 30 |
| MJ Prior | 57 | 85 | 15 | 2968 | 131 | 42.40 | 6 | 121 |
12% of all England's runs in the series have been from extras (141 / 1180) whereas for South Africa it is just 2% (27 / 1314). The most extras added to England's score in a three Test series is 221 conceded by Pakistan in 1982 (58b, 78lb, 34w, 51nb).
Jacques Kallis needs one wicket to become just the third player to score 2000 runs and take 50 wickets against England, after Warwick Armstrong (2172 runs & 74 wickets) and Gary Sobers (3214 runs & 102 wickets).
