Flintoff's prognosis good - surgeon

A decade of frustration 1999 Returns early from South Africa with broken foot. 2000 Back injury ends Pakistan tour. 2002 Delays a hernia operation to try and complete India Test series but still misses final Test. Later returns from Ashes tour with groin problem. 2003 Plays in the World up, but misses Zimbabwe Tests back in England with shoulder injury after being hit in the nets by Sajid Mahmood. 2003 Ruled out of the two-Test series in Bangladesh, but returns for the one-dayers. 2005 Returns from South Africa in January and misses one-day series to have ankle surgery. Is fit in time for the home season including the Ashes. 2006 After captaining England against Sri Lanka in Test series he is out for 12 weeks after ankle surgery and misses rest of the summer. Returns in Champions Trophy as a batsman and leads England in the Ashes. 2007 More surgery to his left ankle after the World Cup and misses most of the home season before returning for the one-day series against India. However, he can't play all seven games due to a recurrence of the problem. 2007 Takes part in the ICC World Twenty20 but barely limps through it. Following the tournament he goes under the knife again and misses rest of the winter. 2008 Was set to return against New Zealand in the home series but strains his side playing for Lancashire. Comeback delayed until second Test against South Africa at Headingley. 2009 Returns from West Indies after the third Test with a hip injury but rejoins the tour for the one-day series.

The surgeon who operated on the knee injuries suffered by Michael Vaughan and Simon Jones believes Andrew Flintoff shouldn't have any major problems recovering from the operation he will have next week after returning from the IPL.

Dr Derek Bickerstaff, who worked on Vaughan's knee in 2006 after the England captain limped out of the tour of India, explained that the problem Flintoff has been struck with while playing for the Chennai Super Kings is common among sportsmen but the repair work is fairly simple

"Basically the meniscus is like a shock-absorber in the knee and when the tear occurs you'll feel the symptoms as you run," he told Cricinfo. "It's fairly straight forward key-hole surgery where they will go in and remove the loose fragments to clean up the knee. As far as the operation is concerned he should be in and out in a day."

With Flintoff ruled out of the West Indies series the key time frame is now whether he recovers for the ICC World Twenty20 and, crucially, the Ashes which start in July. The ECB have said that the recovery timeline is around three to five weeks and Dr Bickerstaff agreed that was a reasonable assessment depending on the exact nature of the injury.

"There are different levels of this sort of injury," he said. "But the recovery period should also be pretty rapid. There will probably be a week of rest followed by two weeks on the bike in the gym and by four weeks he should be training again and be ready to play after about six if everything goes well"

Looking at the longer-term Dr Bickerstaff said that once Flintoff has recovered it isn't the type of injury that should leave him with major problems. "There is a small risk that the operation could leave the knee susceptible to further problems because some of the shock-absorbing tissue has been removed, but it's unlikely to be a factor in the life-time of a fast bowler like Andrew Flintoff although he may suffer later in the life. It shouldn't prevent him returning to action effectively."

ECB medical staff have been keeping close tabs on all the England players at the IPL and Dr Nick Peirce, the chief medical officer, said: "Clearly this is a huge disappointment for both the player and the IPL team. This sort of degenerative injury though is one that could have happened at any time any where. The procedures we put in place meant that the ECB medical staff were alerted about the problem immediately and we thank Chennai for their co operation."