Flintoff an injury doubt for England ahead of Lord’s Test

ENGLAND are facing an anxious wait to determine whether they face another dilemma over the balance of their side after all-rounder Andrew Flintoff emerged as a doubt for the second Ashes Test.

The 31-year-old reported soreness and stiffness during the drawn opening Test in Cardiff in his right knee, which was operated on earlier this year following an injury sustained during his stint playing in the Indian Premier League.

Flintoff was taken for a precautionary scan yesterday and will be further assessed over the next 48 hours before England name their line-up for Thursday’s second Test, with Durham fast bowler Steve Harmison being recalled to a 14-man squad as cover.

But if Flintoff fails to recover in time for Thursday’s next encounter against Australia at Lord’s, it will present major problems for England with the balance Flintoff provides as one of five specialist bowlers batting at number seven.

Stuart Broad is one option to move up one place to bat in Flintoff’s position, but after a disappointing display with the ball in Cardiff, England may be reluctant to saddle a young player with even greater responsibility.

Their other option is to include Ian Bell as one of six specialist batsmen, but that could dilute their bowling options and captain Andrew Strauss is known tofavour five specialist bowlers in his line-up.

Publicly England are playing down the seriousness of Flintoff’s problem but with just three days between Tests, England bosses must be privately concerned about Flintoff’s readiness for Lord’s.

While Flintoff’s potential absence provides England with a dilemma to solve with their batting line-up, particularly as they were out-batted by Australia in the first Test, Harmison’s recall has been welcomed by Durham team-mate Collingwood.

“Harmy has done very well this year,” enthused Collingwood, who batted for 343 minutes to help save the match in Cardiff.

“When Harmy bowls and bowls a lot of overs he gets back to that kind of form that we know he can get into and that’s bowling fast and being quite ferocious.”

Meanwhile Australia captain Ricky Ponting hopes the drawn match can galvanise his team.

England took heart rather than losing it after getting so close to victory at Old Trafford four years ago and won the next Test.

The 2009 Australians were also just one wicket away from success and Ponting believes similar succour can be taken.

“We have to realise how well we have played,” said Ponting, as the tourists headed to London for Thursday’s second Test.

“It will be hard for the players to see because they will be disappointed we didn’t win.

“But as a batting group we delivered and our bowlers toiled away and worked exceptionally hard on a surface that offered nothing.

“I am certainly not looking at this game as a let down. From the point we started batting I thought there was only one team that could win the game.

“With one hour left on the final day, everybody present thought we were going to achieve that victory, and there were so many positives from this game.”