Flintoff injury scare rocks England

England are dreading the catastrophic news that Andrew Flintoff might be unfit for the second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford, or worse. Here's what the papers had to say.

Far from playing again this week, Flintoff must be fearing the possibility that an arthroscopy on the left ankle will now be advised to deal with the tiny fragments of bone or crystal shown by a scan on June 5, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times. Any operation would mean a further six weeks of rehabilitation, leaving the possibility of only two four-day games in September before final decisions are taken about his fitness to captain England in the Ashes series.

Angus Fraser says, in The Independent that the Ashes should be Flintoff's priority. "The first Test against Australia in Brisbane is now only four months away and it is this series that should dominate the thoughts of Flintoff's medical team when they meet today. If Flintoff's misses the second Test he has no chance of playing in the third at Headingley, which starts three days later. It would then appear pointless to rush him back for the fourth so it is the Ashes that should take centre stage."

"If Flintoff is out, England will almost certainly revert to the side that emerged from the first Test at Lord's with a tame draw," writes Andy Wilson in The Guardian. "There is one possibility of a change, however, and that would be to replace the underperforming all-rounder Liam Plunkett with the Lancashire fast bowler Sajid Mahmood."

According to Derek Pringle "Flintoff's absence, should the selectors decide to leave him out when they name the England squad tomorrow, would mean a reprieve not just for Andrew Strauss, as the stand-in captain for a stand-in, but also for Ian Bell, the man earmarked to be jettisoned despite making a hundred in the first Test."