Cricket: Hopes high after latest Flintoff ankle operation

Oct 15 2007 by Jim Van Wijk, Liverpool Daily Post

ENGLAND coach Peter Moores does not expect Andrew Flintoff to be back in action for England until next summer at the earliest.

The 29-year-old has undergone a fourth operation on his troublesome left ankle.

The Lancashire all-rounder travelled to Holland for the procedure, which was performed by leading surgeon Professor Niek van Dijk, who removed fragments of bone which were pressing on a tendon.

Flintoff missed the whole of summer 2007, barring the end-of-season one-day series against India, and was then clearly in discomfort when bowling during the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa.

Moores – whose side won the one-day series in Sri Lanka – maintains Flintoff will not be rushed back into action until he is ready and “pain free”.

“There has been a positive from the operation (which) is the fact they found something,” Moores said.

“It has been really frustrating for Andrew over the last two months that he had pain, but they did not really know what it was.

“They all seem positive it has gone well and that he has a great chance to make a full recovery. ”

Moores, though, maintained: “I do not want to put a time frame on it because it is not something we want to rush and want to make sure it is right.

“We want to get him fit to play and in the right form.

“At the moment there is the target of getting back for the domestic summer in England, and hopefully that will go well.

“There will be a period of rehabilitation he will have to go through, building the strength up and so on and we will keep an eye on the progress.”

Sir Ian Botham has claimed Flintoff should change his bowling action to limit future ankle problems.

England have just appointed Ottis Gibson as their full-time bowling coach after the team’s one-day success in Sri Lanka.

Moores, though, rejected notions they would now be pressing for “wholesale changes” to Flintoff’s approach.

He said: “There is not any evidence that would make the ankle feel better anyway.”