Fresh injury scare for Flintoff hands in-form Harmison an England recall
ENGLAND last night played down injury concerns surrounding Andrew Flintoff, insisting they are hopeful the all-rounder will be fit for the second Ashes Test at Lord’s which starts on Thursday.
The 31-year-old underwent a precautionary scan on the same knee he was operated on earlier this year after complaining of soreness and stiffness during a 12-hour stint in the field during the drawn opening Test in Cardiff.
As a result, fast bowler Steve Harmison has been included in a 14-man squad for the second Test, but although Flintoff’s injury isn’t believed to be as bad as first feared, the Lancastrian will be closely monitored over the next 48 hours.
“I don’t think it’s a flare-up, it’s just a reaction to one of his old knee injuries but I don’t think it’s bad from what we can make out,” said national selector Geoff Miller. “It’s not disastrous but we just have to be very wary of it and monitor it and we’ve produced a selection to cover that. Andrew knows himself how painful it is and whether he’ll be able to compete, but it’s a long series and we’ve got four more games to play so we’ve got to take that into consideration.”
Harmison comes into the squad on the back of an impressive performance for the Lions against Australia at Worcester, and another five-wicket haul for Durham over the weekend.
If Flintoff does fail to recover, then Harmison is expected to come in as a like-for-like strike bowler with Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann expected to move up the batting order, although Broad is also reportedly carrying a slight calf problem. Another option is to bring in Ian Bell to bolster the middle order, but with captain Andrew Strauss known to favour a five-man specialist bowling attack, his only dilemma is expected to be a straight choice between spinner Monty Panesar and seamer Graham Onions.
One player who welcomes the recall of Harmison is his England hero Paul Collingwood, who insists his Durham team-mate will not let anyone down. “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,” said Collingwood, whose brave batting display helped England secure a draw in Cardiff.
“We saw that Worcester last week and watching him there it seemed his accuracy was there and his pace was up and it looked like he had a lot of confidence. A fit and firing Steve Harmison is always good for the squad.”
ENGLAND SQUAD FOR 2ND TEST
AJ Strauss (capt); AN Cook (Essex), RS Bopara (Essex), KP Pietersen (Hants), PD Collingwood (Durham), MJ Prior (Sussex, wkt), A Flintoff (Lancs), SCJ Broad (Notts), GP Swann (Notts), JM Anderson (Lancs), MS Panesar (Northants), IR Bell (Warwicks), G Onions, SJ Harmison (both Durham)