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| December 05, 2006 | Tuesday | Ziqa'ad 13, 1427 |
Fletcher plays down Flintoff injury concerns
ADELAIDE, Dec 4: Captain Andrew Flintoff sparked an injury scare in the England camp after feeling pain in his ankle during the fourth day of the second Test against Australia on Monday.
The Lancastrian underwent ankle surgery earlier this year and has complained of discomfort after playing back-to-back Tests in Australia.
He bowled only four overs on Monday when England needed to bowl out Australia quickly to have any real hope of pushing for victory and also left the field late in the day.
Coach Duncan Fletcher said the injury was not serious and Flintoff only took a rest for precautionary reasons but he would be monitored closely over the next few days.
“He just felt some slight discomfort there and he just wanted to make sure everything was all right and he came off,” Fletcher told a news conference.
“It's a slight discomfort like Ashley Giles has to some degree coming back from injury.
“The medical people say having been off for so long you're going to have these slight discomforts and it's best just to take some precautionary action.”
The all-rounder bowled 35 overs in the series opener in Brisbane, which finished last Monday, plus another 26 in Adelaide on a flat wicket.
“He's done quite a bit of bowling and it's just having played a lot of cricket,” he said.
“There's no worries at the moment. We're just going to have to wait and see how it is the next couple of days.
“But from the advice we've been given, we're not even going to send him for a scan at this stage. It's just having over-bowled in back-to-back Tests.”
England will have a two-day warm-up match before the third Test starts in Perth on Dec 14.
Fletcher has defended England's decision to field an unchanged bowling attack in the second Test.
Despite calls for Monty Panesar to be included, the Northamptonshire spinner was overlooked for the match after England retained the same starting side that lost the first Test in Brisbane.
England have put on a much improved performance in Adelaide and head into the final day leading by 97 runs with a draw looming as the most likely result.
Fletcher said he was pleased with the way England's bowlers had played on lifeless pitch that offered little assistance to either the spinners or quicks and the decision to go with four seamers and Ashley Giles as the lone spinner was right.
“The key here is the seamers have played an important role in both sides for the moment,” Fletcher told a news conference on Monday.
“We thought that the skiddy bowlers would be more effective. When we played South Australia here in that warm-up game Jimmy Anderson bowled very well on here and (Matthew) Hoggard bowled well.
“We thought it would be that skiddiness that would be to our advantage on that wicket.”
Anderson managed only 1-85 but Hoggard bowled superbly to finish with 7-109, the best figures by an Englshman at the Adelaide Oval since Jack White's 8-126 in 1928/29.
DIFFICULT TASK: “It was a pretty difficult wicket for the bowlers...and I just compliment Hoggard for just sticking to his task,” Fletcher said.
“Hoggie is like that, that's why he's always been a very useful member of our side.
“He's prepared to run through a brick wall for us. There's a lot of overs he bowled in the last few days and he's still pretty cheery out there and he's that kind of individual, he's really prepared to stick it out and get stuck in.”
Fletcher said he was also pleased by the improvement shown by England's main strike bowler Steve Harmison, even though he failed to take a single wicket in Australia's innings.
However, the Durham speedster did beat the bat on a number of occassions and there was no repeat of the erratic wides that affected him in Brisbane.
“I am sure he's turned a bit of a corner. From our point of view he's bowled some good lines, good lengths on a wicket that doesn't really suit him,” he said.
Fletcher said England would wait to see how the first session develops on Tuesday before they decide whether to push for victory or settle for a draw but insisted the team had already proven their detractors wrong.
“It's a pretty difficult game, we'll have to see how the wicket plays first hour or two tomorrow. We will reassess it and see where we are and have a discussion tonight and then have a look at it tomorrow morning,” he said.—Reuters
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