England worry over Butcher and Flintoff

LONDON: England cricket selectors were considering their options yesterday in the run-up to the First Test against West Indies after Mark Butcher was involved in a car accident while all rounder Andrew Flintoff was struggling with an ankle injury. Butcher was slightly hurt on Monday, leaving doctors to assess whether he would be fit to start at Lord’s tomorrow. The left-handed batsman was on his way to get treatment for a thigh strain, which had itself threatened his Test chances, when he was involved in the crash.

“Someone did run into the back of him and he has mild whiplash but should be okay,” a spokesman for Butcher’s county club Surrey said. “As far as we’re concerned it was mild. He’s with the England set-up now.” Robert Key has been included in the 13-man England squad as cover. Flintoff, meanwhile, needed a cortisone injection in his left ankle on Monday after a scan revealed inflamed tissue around a bone spur, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said.

“I do not expect that the injection will allow Andrew to bowl,” ECB chief medical officer Dr Peter Gregory said, while adding Flintoff should be ready to bowl by the second match of the four-Test series. That could mean Flintoff playing as a specialist batsman at Lord’s. England recorded a 3-0 Test series win over West Indies in the Caribbean earlier this year, their first series victory there since 1968. They also beat their opponents 3-1 on their last tour of England.