Flintoff postpones his honeymoon

Andrew Flintoff's determination to return to full fitness in time for England's Ashes campaign in the summer has led him to make the ultimate sacrifice: he has agreed to postpone his honeymoon.

Flintoff, whose daughter Holly was born last summer, is due to marry his fiancée Rachel Wools on March 5. But, after missing the recent one-day series in South Africa to undergo an operation on his ankle, Flintoff's primary obligation in the coming weeks is to concentrate on his rehabilitation programme.

Flintoff has never yet faced the Australians in a Test match, and that can in part be attributed to his previously half-hearted attitude to fitness work. In 2001, he was ruled out with a back injury, and in 2002-03 he made a slow recuperation from an operation on a hernia, and on his arrival in Australia he was barely able to walk.

The England & Wales Cricket Board is taking no chances this time, and Flintoff has been saddled with a rigorous programme. "[It] is very comprehensive," Neil Fairbrother, Flintoff's agent, told The Guardian newspaper. "They'll give him a day off to get married but there's no time for a honeymoon. They'll have to make up for that later."

Initial assessments are that the operation, to remove a troublesome spur in Flintoff's ankle, went well. "He had the stitches out last Friday and he's very positive about everything," added Fairbrother, "but it's too early to say when he'll be playing again."