Flintoff set to miss Pakistan Test

Andrew Flintoff all but ruled himself out yesterday of the first Test against Pakistan when he admitted that the ankle injury which forced him to withdraw from the current NatWest one-day series against Sri Lanka is not due to be reassessed for a fortnight.

England will take on Pakistan at Lord's in two weeks' time and Flintoff would need to play in at least one first-class match before the Test to prove his fitness.

Flintoff said: "We will have another look [at the ankle] in two weeks. There is scar tissue in there and whether the bone fragments were the result of the operation [16 months ago] or were already there, we do not know. We are going down the route of physio and exercises to strengthen the ligaments around the ankle. I'm not running, I'm doing a lot of cycling. I'm doing things that don't cause pain and trying to tick over. So far ... there are no adverse effects."

Flintoff's injury concern completes an unhappy hat-trick for England this week after it emerged that Ashley Giles had a second operation on his right hip on Tuesdayand the captain Michael Vaughan will seek the opinion of another knee specialist today before having surgery tomorrow.