Lancashire chief denies any knowledge of Flintoff injury

Chief-executive of Lancashire ARY, Jim Cumbes, issued a robust denial to the suggestion that his club had failed to inform the England team management about an injury to Andrew Flintoff.

Fletcher's had earlier commented that he was: "very disappointed that nobody informed the England team management of Andrew's injury especially as it is now three weeks old. Our physiotherapist, Dean Conway, was only informed of the injury by Andrew the day after he arrived in Colombo."

Such a statement is likely to be interpreted as a rebuke to Flintoff, whose fitness has been a continuing worry to England.

But Cumbes has insisted that Lancashire knew nothing about the injury either, and assured there would be an enquiry into the situation.

"The first that I and other officials at Lancashire heard about Freddie's problem was when England contacted us about it and obviously we're deeply concerned," admitted Cumbes.

He also revealed that the club had made a concerted effort to help the extravagantly talented, but seemingly perennially unfit all-rounder.

"Last year we had a big meeting with the ECB about improving the way Freddie's fitness and other things could be managed. Since then the player, the club and everybody concerned with him have worked tremendously hard to get things right. There has clearly been a breakdown in communications about the ankle injury and we're trying to find out exactly what went wrong."