July 07, 2008	Monday	Rajab 3, 1429

LONDON, July 6: England captain Michael Vaughan has insisted his longstanding knee problem won’t prevent him from getting through all four Tests of the upcoming series with South Africa after undergoing a fresh course of injections on Saturday.

The team head to Lord’s for next week’s opener with Vaughan’s right knee again a talking point.

There were danger signs for England when their captain was visibly in pain during Yorkshire’s County Championship defeat against Durham where he had to have ice treatment on his troublesome joint and sat out the final afternoon.

But Vaughan, who has played 15 consecutive Test since returning in the last English season after an 18-month injury-induced exile, said Saturday: “It is nothing new, nothing different.

“When you have a chronic knee, there are going to be odd days when it doesn’t feel as good as others and the good thing about it is I know how to manage that situation.

“I have no doubt whatsoever I will play a full part in the series and move like I did against New Zealand, which was very, very well.”The 33-year-old added: “I have no fear I won’t be able to do the same, starting on Thursday, and then all the Test matches against South Africa.” Vaughan’s knee once more proved cause for concern on the eve of the third Test against New Zealand.

Although he played in that match, he then missed a couple of Twenty20 games for Yorkshire and then opted out of the county’s Friends Provident Trophy semi-final defeat against Essex on Saturday for his latest set of injections.

“I have courses of injections in the knee, which aren’t cortisone injections, it is just a fluid called Ostinol which lubricates the joint and makes it a bit easier to move around,” Vaughan explained.

“The best way to describe it is it’s like oiling your limbs; you have a course of three over six months and you feel fine. It is something I have had over the year.” He added: “It was felt this was a period in which I was going to need one of these injections and also to put myself back into the four and five-day mode.

“I have to manage the knee, which means missing the odd game for Yorkshire, for what is the bigger picture, and that is Test match cricket for me.” England are on the verge of creating Test history by fielding the same side for the sixth successive match with all-rounder Andrew Flintoff not yet deemed fit enough for the rigours of a five-day encounter following a side strain.

However, there is every chance the star of England’s victorious 2005 Ashes campaign, could return for his first Test in over a year when the second match of this series starts at Headingley in under a fortnight.

And Vaughan is adamant Flintoff’s looming presence will not inhibit the likes of under-pressure middle-order batsmen Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood.

“Everyone will be playing next week with the knowledge that Andrew Flintoff will have to be fitted into this England team when he’s available, fit and ready to play.

“That should drive you on, to make sure you’re not that one person who misses out.” England, who have won four of their last five Tests, all against the Kiwis, are expecting a tougher challenge from Graeme Smith’s men and Vaughan believes it is just what the team need ahead of next year’s home Ashes series.

“I think it has come at the right time for us to be tested against probably one of the top two teams in the world as we speak,” Vaughan said.

“Australia is just a year away and this is just the kind of side we want to be playing.”—AFP