ENGLAND legend Sir Ian
Botham does not believe allrounder
Andrew Flintoff
should be rushed back into action
for next week's first Test
against New Zealand.
Flintoff missed the winter
series in Sri Lanka and New
Zealand after undergoing a
fourth operation on a troublesome
ankle late last year.
The 30-year-old has been
trying to prove his fitness
playing for Lancashire this
season but his returns have
been modest.
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Some encouraging bowling
displays have been undermined
by a lack of runs with
the bat and he was dismissed
for a third successive duck in
first-class cricket yesterday in
Lancashire's ongoing LV
County Championship clash
with Durham.
Botham said: I would just
hold Fred back a bit. I'd like
him to play a bit more county
cricket.
I'd like him to have plenty
of overs under his belt and
plenty of runs as a batsman
come the South Africans
(later in the summer).
I'd just like him to be given
that time to get his confidence
back, full confidence in his
body and more importantly in
that ankle. England do need
him but they need a fit Fred.
But he also knows this is
really make-or-break time because
he's 30 years old and he's
had four operations on it, so
it's got to be right.''
Flintoff last played international
cricket in the ICC World
Twenty20 last autumn but has
not been involved in a Test
since the disastrous 2006-07
Ashes series, when he captained
England.
Former England captain
Michael Atherton also feels it
is too soon for England to recall
Flintoff.
Atherton wrote in his Times
column: For his own sake,
and for the good of the team
he should not be picked - at
least not yet.
What is the rush? England
should beat New Zealand with
the most frequently invoked
relative in broadcasting - Geoffrey
Boycott's mum - at the
helm.
Why not let Flintoff continue
to bowl for Lancashire
so he can take time to build
confidence in his body and try
to find some batting form before
the tougher questions
that South Africa will ask in
the second half of the summer?''
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