New Flintoff injury scare for England
All-rounder Andrew Flintoff has given England another injury scare in the build-up to tomorrow’s NatWest Series match against India at Headingley after reporting soreness in his troublesome left ankle. Flintoff has been named in the 14-man squad to take on India tomorrow but doubts remain as to whether he will be able to take the field.
The 29-year-old Lancashire all-rounder missed most of this summer recovering from a third operation on his ankle and has only just returned to the England squad for this seven-match series. But after returning from a knee injury which sidelined him for Monday’s win at Edgbaston at Old Trafford on Thursday, Flintoff has felt his ankle again and was today consulting England’s medical team about treatment.
“Freddie has got a little bit of soreness in his left ankle again,” confirmed captain Paul Collingwood. “It’s a little bit worrying and we’ll know more in the next few hours. He’s had a bit of ice-treatment as usual but he has got a bit of tenderness in there as well.
“I haven’t spoken to him about it too much, but he’s felt a bit of soreness in there and I’m sure he’ll seek advice from the medical team about what to do for tomorrow.”
It is a potentially serious setback for Flintoff after bowling just 55.5 competitive overs for Lancashire and England this summer since his return from the operation. Before today’s setback he has insisted that his ankle felt fine and was indeed strong enough to enable him to take the first five-wicket haul of his one-day international career at Bristol only eight days ago.
Teams:
England (from): PD Collingwood (Durham, capt), IR Bell (Warwickshire), MJ Prior (Sussex, wkt), OA Shah (Middlesex), KP Pietersen (Hampshire), A Flintoff (Lancashire), RS Bopara (Essex), SC Broad (Leicestershire), CT Tremlett (Hampshire), JM Anderson (Lancashire), MS Panesar (Northamptonshire), AN Cook (Essex), AD Mascarenhas (Hampshire), J Lewis (Gloucestershire).
India (from): R Dravid (capt) MS Dhoni (wkt) SR Tendulkar, SC Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, G Gambhir, RP Sharma, P Chawla, RR Powar, RV Uthappa, AB Agarkar, Z Khan, MM Patel, KD Karthik, RP Singh.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) & NJ Llong (Eng)
Third Umpire: IJ Gould (Eng) Match referee: RS Mahanama (SL).
