England may start with five bowlers

England are considering playing five bowlers in the opening Ashes Test, starting on November 23 at The Gabba, amid concerns over skipper Andrew Flintoff's fitness.

Flintoff has bowled only five overs - during the recent Champions Trophy in India - for his country since his ankle surgery last July. Duncan Fletcher, the coach, is not sure if Flintoff can send down long spells needed for Test cricket.

Amid these doubts England are expected to choose four other bowlers as insurance, which means one of three batsmen - Alastair Cook, Ian Bell or Paul Collingwood - will miss out. "We've got to look at five bowlers, especially now with Flintoff, with the workload he takes on," Fletcher said on Tuesday at a media briefing in Sydney. "If we were confident of him getting through a lot of overs, we could probably look at (playing) four (bowlers), but with Flintoff not bowling many, we've got to go in with five bowlers."

England's major concern with playing five bowlers is carrying a long tail, as wicketkeepers Geraint Jones and Chris Read average 25.79 and 20.31 with the bat respectively, and would go in at No.7. Ashley Giles is the only England bowler who has a healthy batting average (20.72), and that may be crucial in his fight for selection against fellow spinner Monty Panesar (10.20).

Fletcher said the length and strength of the tail was something that needed addressing. "That's the thing we've really got to look at in the next couple of games we play in," he said.

The competition for places means England must use their three warm-up matches astutely. Fletcher said the players who did not take part in the Champions Trophy - Giles, Panesar, Marcus Trescothick, Cook and Matthew Hoggard - were likely to play against the Prime Minister's XI in Friday's one-day match at Canberra.

After that England have two three-day games, against New South Wales (NSW) at Sydney and South Australia at Adelaide. They have been given the permission to play up to 14 players against NSW, but will play 11 against South Australia, and that match will be granted first-class status.

Fletcher said he, along with Flintoff, batting coach Matthew Maynard, and bowling coach Kevin Shine, had discussed the likely Test line-up, and were close to finalising the team. "We're pretty close. We had a good hour-and-a-half meeting yesterday throwing it around," he said.

"I was quite convinced what we'd require even before we came out here... we've got a good idea what we want."