Flintoff scan shows 'no major damage'

An MRI scan has revealed no major damage to Andrew Flintoff's left side, after he was pulled out of England's warm-up against a St Kitts Invitational XI, and he will continue to be assessed on a daily basis.

Flintoff made a four-hour round trip to Jamaica on Monday to have the problem investigated and the scans were checked by the ECB's chief medical officer, Nick Peirce, back in the UK. While the results are promising it won't ease all concerns surrounding his fitness ahead of the first Test on February 4.

He first felt the problem during an early-tour net session but was named in the opening tour match. However, after his brief innings of 11 on the first day he reported more soreness and was withdrawn from the contest as a precaution. Stuart Broad took his place in side and claimed two wickets on the second day.

The team management insisted that Flintoff's trip to Kingston was precautionary, but there will be concerns given his fitness history. Another side injury caused a delay in Flintoff's return to the England side last year, when he was being earmarked for a recall for the home series against New Zealand following ankle surgery.

He picked up that problem in the County Championship against Durham in early May and was forced to sit out international cricket until the second Test against South Africa, at Headingley, in July. Since returning his bowling has been impressive and he has regularly hit the 90mph mark. During the India tour before Christmas he was used extensively by Kevin Pietersen and said his body felt as good as ever.

Meanwhile Owais Shah, England's other casualty of an eventful 24 hours, is hopeful of a swift recovery after waking up with blurred vision on the second morning of the match. He was left ruing his misfortune after suffering a scratched left cornea following his unbeaten 125 on the opening day of the match.

"I don't know how I did it," Shah told reporters in Basseterre. "The doctor didn't know either, she said it could have been anything, maybe a tiny bit of sand went in, and I just rubbed my eye.

"When I spoke to the physio, I was concerned about my eyesight going but he said 'you can't lose your eyesight overnight'," he said. "The doctor put some medicine in there, covered it up and she reckons it should heal up overnight. Hopefully it will be okay tomorrow."

It was an untimely injury for Shah, who had seized his opportunity to impress ahead of the first Test at Kingston on February 4, but now faces an anxious wait to see whether he can recover in time to play in England's first-class warm-up against West Indies A later this week.

"It is timing, isn't it?" said Shah, who has played only two Tests in the three years since he made his debut in 2006. "Sometimes you can do what you want and sometimes you might not get the opportunity. But I am actually not that frustrated any more - maybe 12 months ago I was, but I have sort of gone past that stage now."