Flintoff likely to lead

Another series, more injuries and another captaincy conundrum; when England's selection panel meets this weekend to finalise the squad for next week's first Test against Sri Lanka, not only will enough fit players have to be found, but a man to lead them will also be announced.

David Graveney, chairman of the three-man selection panel, indicated to reporters that the captain, at least, is likely to be Andrew Flintoff. He did, however, also acknowledge ongoing fears that the extra responsibility on Flintoff's admittedly broad shoulders remains a concern.

"The first thing to be discussed is if Michael Vaughan is out of contention, for how long and how does that affect the captaincy," explained Graveney to reporters. "We hear what everybody is saying about workload for Freddie. But let's not forget he captained one of the most memorable victories, which was the last Test match we played - you can draw your own conclusions from that."

Graveney was referring to England's stunning win against India at Mumbai, one which levelled the series many expected England to lose. England suffered similarly catastrophic luck against India with injuries to key players Marcus Trescothick, Simon Jones as well as captain Michael Vaughan, all of whom missed the entire series.

The list of injured absentees for this Test is equally frightening, though at least there isn't a broken metatarsal anywhere in sight. Vaughan has failed to recover from his knee problem, James Anderson has been ruled out with a back injury, Jones has ongoing knee problems, Ashley Giles remains a long-term casualty and Steve Harmison hasn't recovered from the shin problems that curtailed his tour of India. Thus England will again take to the field against Sri Lanka under an inexperienced captain and team.

The other possible alternative as captain is Andrew Strauss who captained England in two ODIs in India though Graveney was unwilling to reveal too much more. "There's a huge difference between a one-off Test match and doing a whole series. We'll monitor the situation. Michael Vaughan is captain of England, and let's hope he comes back as soon as possible."