Test nightmare for England as Flintoff and Giles drop out

England's plans for fighting their way back into the Ashes series were thrown into turmoil yesterday when injuries to Ashley Giles and Andrew Flintoff ruled them out of tomorrow's second Test here.

Flintoff's withdrawal was to be expected following two failed attempts to show he had recovered from a double hernia operation in August. However, the news of Giles breaking his left wrist at yesterday's penultimate practice session came as a hammer blow to Nasser Hussain, the England captain, and his side.

Giles, along with Andrew Caddick, has been England's most impressive bowler in Australia so far and Hussain would have been working his game plan around these two. To be without the services of his left-arm spinner, who took six wickets in the first Test, is a devastating blow to Hussain. Giles has become the bowler that the captain turns to when he attempts to stop events on the field getting out of control.

"It was the first ball I faced in the nets," Giles said. "Stephen Harmison was bowling and he hit me on the point of the wrist. I thought it was just bruised, carried on batting and completed my session in the net. But it got worse and worse, and now I have been told it will take up to six weeks to heal."

The replacement for Giles on the tour could be Glamorgan's experienced Robert Croft, with Northamptonshire's Monty Panesar or Worcestershire's Gareth Batty, who are both wintering at the England Academy in Adelaide, also in the frame.

Flintoff's tour of Australia has turned into a series of scans and scams. Reports of his recovery have often erred on the optimistic side when it has been blatantly obvious he is struggling, but now the Lancashire all-rounder has had to accept that he will not be playing Test cricket before Christmas.

Following the third clear scan – yesterday's was a CT scan – on his pelvic area in eight days, the 24-year-old was given a steroid injection in the injured part of his groin to settle the injury. Flintoff will remain here until England leave for Perth at the conclusion of this Test, then he will join up with the one-day squad who arrive in Australia on 26 November .

Hussain and the England coach, Duncan Fletcher, have been forced into having a major rethink over the side they will select for this crucial Test.

Hussain had hinted that the make-up of the side was leaning towards six batsmen and five bowlers. This would have meant there was no place for Robert Key, despite him scoring a career-best 174 not out at the weekend. However, with the inexperienced off-spin of Richard Dawson now being the only slow-bowling option available, Hussain may well resort to seven batsmen and four fast bowlers, hoping that Michael Vaughan might get through a few overs of spin.

This is just the sort of situation that Hussain, reunited with the team after attending the birth of his second child on Monday, did not want after calling on his squad to designate Adelaide as the venue for their renaissance. In an effort to turn around this Ashes series, he had also asked his players to do a bit of room theory. By this Hussain did not mean that his side were to be locked in their hotel rooms as punishment for their disappointing displays so far in Australia, but it is here where they should sit down and think about what they can do to help England's cause. Other than this, his instructions were exactly the same as before the first Test – do the basics right.

"We have had injuries, but I will not hide behind them because so far on this tour we have not done the basics right," Hussain said. "Unless we start to turn this around pretty soon, it will be too late. Somewhere on the tour we are going to have to pinpoint that this is the time we turn things around. Individually, someone has to go back to their room and decide they are going to do something, whether it is to get Hayden out or, like Robert Key go, out and score 170.

The final decision on which XI walks out on to the field is now likely to be left until tomorrow morning. After the poor performance by England's reserve seamers in Hobart on Friday, Matthew Hoggard, whose place was under pressure, is now sure to play with Caddick.

The fate of Alex Tudor, Harmison or Dawson will depend on Hussain's interpretation of the pitch. "It looks pretty much like a bat-first pitch," said Hussain, who appears to have got over his oversight at Brisbane, "but I may find a bit of moisture in it by Thursday morning. I have also heard it that it can get a bit uneven, so you have to decide whether you want spin or tall fast bowlers to make the most of the conditions. All these things have to be thrown into the equation."

Australia predictably have no such worries and will decide on their side when they see how Jason Gillespie's calf strain reacts after a hard work-out in the nets. With Gillespie sure to play, if fit, the Australian selectors will decide whether to remain loyal to Andy Bichel or recall Brett Lee, who has bowled fast and taken 21 wickets since he was dropped from the first Test. The feeling is they will stick to the same side as Brisbane.

ENGLAND (from): N Hussain (capt), M E Trescothick, M P Vaughan, M A Butcher, J P Crawley, A J Stewart (wkt), R Key, C White, R Dawson, A R Caddick, A Tudor, M J Hoggard, S Harmison

AUSTRALIA: S R Waugh (capt), M L Hayden, J L Langer, R T Ponting, D R Martyn, D J Lehmann, A C Gilchrist (wkt), S K Warne, A J Bichel, J N Gillespie, G D McGrath. 12th man: B Lee.