Related Link : Pakistan in England 2006
Freddie Flintoff has been ruled out for atleast 12 weeks as he has been advised to undergo an ankle surgery. This is a big blow for English Cricket as Flintoff might struggle to make it to the Ashes as well! The all rounder who had started to try and make a comeback from the ankle injury that ruled him out of the recent ODI Series against Sri Lanka and the Lord’s Test against Pakistan played a couple of Twenty20 games and his last test to assess the real strength in his ankle was during the four-day match against Kent. Freddie had sent down 19 overs in the first innings and he could bowl just four in the second innings as he pulled out due to a discomforting pain in his ankle. Andrew Strauss is expected to lead England for some more time now that England will be without their original skipper Michael Vaughan and the stand-in captain Andrew Flintoff. England’s bowling has already looked weak with no back up bowlers really doing the job after the initial spells from Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard. The Selectors will be picking the squad for the Old Trafford Test on Sunday.