England call for Wright as fears grow for Flintoff

Fears that England will be without Andrew Flintoff and Ravi Bopara for the two remaining NatWest Series matches against India and the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa grew last night when Sussex's Luke Wright was added to the squad. Flintoff missed Sunday's match at Headingley with what appears to be a recurrence of the chronic ankle condition that continues to blight his career, while Bopara is waiting to find out whether the dislocation and break he suffered to his right thumb in Leeds is more serious than initially thought.

The hectic schedule, which sees England play India at The Oval tomorrow and at Lord's on Saturday before travelling to South Africa on Sunday, means that Flintoff and Bopara have little or no time to recover. England also have injury concerns over Chris Tremlett, who missed Sunday's match with a sore right foot and will be unavailable tomorrow after having an injection in the injury. Ryan Sidebottom, who is yet to play in the NatWest series, is hoping to prove he has recovered from a side/back problem following a fitness assessment yesterday.

The glut of injuries could well undermine England's hopes of defeating India, whom they lead 3-2 in the seven-match series. The prospect of making four late changes to the 14-man Twenty20 World Championship squad threatens to throw their preparations for the tournament into disarray too.

Wright has made a big impression in limited-over cricket this summer, accumulating more runs in Twenty20 cricket than any other batsman. The 22-year-old scored 125 off 73 balls against Gloucestershire in the Pro40 League too and has a strike rate – runs per 100 balls – of well over a hundred in all competitions. He is an exciting young cricketer.

Despite the setbacks Peter Moores, the England coach, is reluctant to take injured players to South Africa. "It depends what the injury is," Moores said. "You can't take anybody who is too injured because the tournament is so short. A lot depends where the player is at. If we are sure that it is a bit of a niggle and it will recover in a couple of days and we are confident, then we will take them, but if it is a longer-term thing then they might have to be replaced. We will be a lot clearer with everybody over the next 24 to 48 hours.

"If they are fit, they can play; if they aren't, they can't. Twenty20 is an important tournament and we want to compete well, but you can't play people if they are not fit. But if the medics say they are fine, we will take the strongest squad we have."

England's ongoing fitness problems make this autumn's awarding of central contracts compelling. In the past few years the selection has been pretty straightforward, but this time around the ECB could award seven or eight if it is feeling mean or 13 or 14 if generous. It is believed that the number offered will be 14, which means those who have had disappointing or injury-affected seasons – Andrew Strauss, Matthew Hoggard, Stephen Harmison and Flintoff – should be safe, and that the replacements who have done well – Anderson, Sidebottom and Tremlett – could be given a contract too.

Extra revenue will be created by Marcus Trescothick, Ashley Giles and Simon Jones no longer being on the ECB's payroll, and the likes of Vaughan, Strauss, Harmison and Hoggard being dropped down a pay band because they no longer feature in one-day cricket.