Flintoff risks joint venture

By PAUL NEWMAN

Last updated at 22:02 11 September 2007

Andrew Flintoff and Allan

Donald agreed to disagree

again yesterday over the

most troublesome left ankle

in English sport, as wind

and rain here threatened to

influence the Cape Town leg of

cricket's first World Twenty20.

Flintoff admitted he faces an uncertain

future after suffering further discomfort in

a joint that has been operated on three

times, but he is still unsure about the

diagnosis of bowling consultant Donald,

who insists that England's talisman must

remodel his action to avoid further damage.

Donald, back in his home country with

England, is adamant that change is the

only course of action for Flintoff — with

further surgery seemingly ruled out.

"I think the consensus of the medical

team is that he's got to change his action,"

said Donald, whose contract with England

is up for renewal after this tournament.

"We need to do this slowly, step by step.

When you change something technically

it's hard work but he's a very high-class

cricketer and I think he can do it."

Flintoff, whose left foot points inwards

on impact, increasing the strain on his

ankle, is not convinced.

He arrived here

with England unsure if he will be fit to face

Zimbabwe at Newlands tomorrow but

hoping that the steroid injection he had

last week to ease the inflammation will be

a more effective cure.

"Lots of things are being talked about,

like tinkering with my bowling action, but

I find that difficult to do while I'm playing,"

said Flintoff. "I can do it in the nets and

warm-up, but as soon as I go into a match

and a pressure situation I go back to what

I know best.

"I'm never happy to have an injection.

Nobody likes having needles shoved into

them but this latest one was not to patch

me up or mask it. It was a treatment and

one that did not go into the joint and won't

cause any long-term damage. Fingers

crossed it will settle down and I'll be fine."

Donald, who has had a positive impact

on England's bowlers and will talk about

his future with ECB chief executive David

Collier here this week, was candid when

asked whether Flintoff will ever regain his

past effectiveness at Test level, where his

ankle is subjected to much longer spells.

"My head tells me that I don't think he

can regain his form in the longer game,"

said Donald. "English cricket and its

supporters will have to be patient."

The scenario of Flintoff being reduced to

plying his enormously effective trade only

in the one-day arena is a desperate one

but if he has further problems here or in

the Sri Lankan one-day tour that follows,

he knows that may become reality.

"I can't be bothered about the doubters,"

said Flintoff. "I'm not here to prove anybody

wrong, just to perform for the team."

Whether he will be fit enough to do that

tomorrow will depend on today's training

session but there are already worries that

poor weather in the Cape might reduce

the Zimbabwe clash to fewer than 20 overs

or even a dreaded bowl-out.

Cape Town is just surfacing from a winter

of heavy rainfall but the ICC decided to

allocate matches here even though cricket

is not normally played in this part of the

country at least until mid-October.

The circumstances demanded some

humour and Flintoff provided it with a

delivery of which his comic hero Peter Kay

would have been proud.

When asked if he was worried about the

future if he cannot bowl flat out, Flintoff,

whose recent lack of runs has been as

acute as the pain in his ankle, said simply:

"I can always fall back on my batting."