England’s beleaguered cricketers received a welcome boost with the news that Andrew Flintoff should be fit for the decisive fifth Ashes Test at the Oval in south London on August 20.
The Lancastrian all-rounder was keen to play in the fourth Headingley Test in Leeds last week, but was overruled over fears that he wouldn’t last the match because of a niggling knee injury that has already limited his participation in this Ashes series and led to Flintoff announcing last month that he will retire from the long form of the game after the Oval Test to have surgery to protect his mobility long-term.
But according to Andy Williams, a top knee specialist advising Flintoff and England, Freddie’s right knee should hold up at the Oval if he has proper treatment and rest between now and the match, with the swelling of the joint already ‘significantly eased’ – this will include a device that ices the knee while Flintoff sleeps.
England succumbed to a thumping innings defeat in Leeds to leave their hopes for the series resting on the final showdown. The score is 1–1 after a win apiece and two draws, but the onus will be on England to win, with a drawn series meaning that the Ashes urn – or the bragging rights at least, with the actual urn safely locked up at Lord’s after each series – will remain with the Australians. As the Aussies’ chief tormentor in the last series on English soil, which England also clinched in a final-Test Oval thriller, Flintoff will put everything he has into what will be his final bow for England’s Test side, with captain Andrew Strauss likely to put the shiny new ball straight into Fred’s hand at the earliest opportunity.
Meanwhile, the news was not so good for another of Australia’s toughest 2005 adversaries, Kevin Pietersen. With KP already ruled out the rest of this Ashes series, the operation on his troubled Achilles has now led to a secondary infection around the surgical incision, casting doubt on his inclusion in the squad for England’s winter South African tour.
© Darren Jacklin/Red Bull Photofiles
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