There will be three major differences this time, however, the first of them being that Mike Atherton has already departed. Although Mark Ramprakash was exemplarily patient during his masterpiece in the Barbados Test, and again yesterday until his controversial exit, no one alive and without a criminal record is quite so suited to the task of denying the opposition his wicket from sun-up to sun-down and beyond.
Secondly, while the pitch is similar to that at The Wanderers now it has dried out, the overhead conditions here have been very different at the start of each day's play.
The fast bowling of Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock has been superb they have taken nine wickets for 109 so far - but it was made overwhelming yesterday by the heavy cloud which did not disperse until lunchtime.
A third difference is that South Africa have a wrist-spinner, whereas at Johannesburg they had a moderate finger-spinner who ploughed through more than 50 overs to no avail. Paul Adams is the type who can make wickets happen by taking them with bad balls as well as good notably, and sickeningly for England, when Atherton fetched one innocuously wide of off-stump and swung it to midwicket just as the first bold thoughts of something even grander than a draw were taking shape in the evening sun.
For England to win one of their most epic victories, however, they would have to score at three runs an over until lunch tomorrow, even to set South Africa a total above 200 to chase in the last four hours. A scoring rate nearer two an over, which has been obtained so far, is better assumed in such a pressing position and in the face of not only the South African pace bowling but their brilliant ground-fielding.
But at least there was some England resistance yesterday, during the stand of 94 between Atherton and Nasser Hussain, just when it seemed that the worm would not turn. It has long been customary to rank the Lord's Test alongside Ascot, Wimbledon and Henley as a highlight of the English sporting summer. At the rate England were going as they were routed for 110, following their dismissal for 77 last summer and other recent embarrassments, including that on South Africa's last visit, it was going to have to be re-classified as a lowlight.
Abject as their batting was first time round,it was on the first day that England lost hold of this match, when the tourists were 46 for four and thereabouts, and England's fielding - more than the bowling lost the necessary edge. The difference in crispness between the two teams' fielding, and in their running between wickets, is that between toast and bread. Above all, though, is England's collective inability to seize the moment --or even, at Edgbaston on the second day, to sense it.
Hussain had something to atone for in his second innings - and has done so with his first fifty of the series - as his first dismissal was a hot-blooded one. Nothing wrong with being pinned against the ropes by Donald and Pollock, but his attempt to break free was impulsive not calculated and set the tone for a dolorous morning which reduced even the carousers in the full crowd to a hush of silence.
In his first go as nightwatchman, Dean Headley contributed two runs, compared with the two hundreds which his grandfather made in his last Lord's Test, but he accepted without palaver the bouncers which Donald returned at him with interest. Once Headley had edged a half-drive, Ramprakash joined Thorpe in a partnership which had to be as significant as their one in Barbados if England were to achieve parity in their first innings.
It was the highest test of batsmanship there could be as Donald from the Pavilion End and Pollock from the Nursery bent their backs against Thorpe and Ramprakash. The awesome quality of the bowling lay not in mere speed alone but in the technical accomplishment which kept the seam of the ball vertical in its brief flight. In his first 80 minutes at the crease Ramprakash mustered one scoring stroke; in the whole session three shots each from the pair of them were the only sure strokes.
Thorpe was dismissed by a stunning right-handed catch by Adam Bacher at short-leg, but by then he had twice been lucky not to be given out, when struck on his pad first ball - Pollock had remembered how Thorpe was twice yorked at Edgbaston - and when he had gloved a bouncer down the legside according to a television replay. England, over all, were not unlucky therefore when Ramprakash, having survived until lunch, was given caught behind off a ball which bounced and brushed his elbow.
Ramprakash was summoned by the ICC match referee Javed Burki for standing his ground for too long after umpire Darrell Hair's decision. Burki, after hearing submissions, is to reserve judgment until this morning: a verdict has to be given within 24 hours. As an offence it was comparable to Thorpes's excessive slowness after being given out in the Antigua Test of April, when the batsman's disappointment was compounded more by disbelief than dissent.
It is probably because the English tail is so defensive that it is less productive than others. Only a couple of blows were struck in anger before the innings was over - for the fourth time in England's Test history extras were the highest scorer - and England were starting again, productively on this occasion, apart from the sad case of Steve James. Although England's selectors have the finest opener of the nineties at their disposal, they have preferred to pit a debutant against South Africa's strongest suit.
Once James had edged an outswinger to second slip, Atherton and Hussain put together the partnership that took England off the slide and gave them a breather.
The sun shone after tea, the ground was meet for a picture. It is just up to England to match the progressive architecture of Lord's with a substantial structure of their own.