LONDON, July 21: England captain Andrew Flintoff's hopes of returning to international action in next week's second Test against Pakistan suffered a major setback on Friday as his ankle injury flared up again.

Flintoff suffered fresh discomfort in his left ankle while playing for his county Lancashire against Kent at Canterbury and is to see a specialist on Saturday — just 24 hours before the selectors are due to name their squad for the second Test, which starts on July 27 at the all-rounder's Old Trafford home ground.

The all-rounder missed last week's first Test draw with Pakistan at Lord's, having begun his comeback with some Twenty20 appearances.

But the selectors had said he would have to come through a four-day Championship match first before being recalled to the Test side.

Flintoff had looked on course for that return after the first three days of the Canterbury clash, but it was while bowling on Friday that the aggressive paceman and hard-hitting batsman suffered renewed problems.

A statement issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said:

Andrew Flintoff has made good progress with his rehabilitation from an injury to his left ankle.

He has worked extremely hard and at every stage of the rehabilitation program has shown improvement.

However, bowling in a four-day county championship match against Kent was intended as the final test of the progress that he has made.

Unfortunately, he has experienced some discomfort today (Friday) and he will see a specialist to reassess the ankle and future management of the injury.

A decision as to whether he is available for the second Test against Pakistan will be made following his visit to the specialist tomorrow.

England were captained at Lord's by Andrew Strauss and the opening batsman would be the likeliest candidate to lead the team in the second match of the four-Test series against Pakistan were Flintoff declared unfit to play.—AFP