ECB quiet over Flintoff surgery reports

Flintoff was out for just seven runs yesterday (GETTY IMAGES)

The England and Wales Cricket Board have refused to comment on a report that Andrew Flintoff will undergo knee surgery upon the conclusion of the npower Ashes series.

Flintoff, 31, is scheduled to be flying to Belfast next Tuesday with the England one-day squad, having been selected earlier this week.

But a report in the Daily Telegraph claims he will have a major operation which will keep him sidelined for nine months.

An ECB spokesman said: "We are making no further comment on his medical condition. We are leaving him to concentrate on the task at hand, which is on the field.

"As we have said previously an operation remains an option at the end of the series.

"He will be reassessed at the end of this current match."

Flintoff is due to see specialist Andy Williams regarding his right knee in the near future, after being cleared to play in the Ashes finale at the Oval.

Lancashire all-rounder Flintoff missed the fourth Test defeat at Headingley due to a flaring of the problem, but is expected to play a full part in England's attempts to defeat the Australians for a second successive home campaign.