Cook feels for unfortunate Flintoff

England will be without Andrew Flintoff for the home series against West Indies

Opener Alastair Cook believes his own injury frustration has been put into context by international colleague Andrew Flintoff's latest blow.

Essex's Cook makes his season bow against the touring West Indians at Chelmsford tomorrow, after three weeks on the sidelines with a fractured finger.

The 24-year-old has aborted a couple of potential comebacks for his county due to discomfort, which has delayed his preparation for the first Test at Lord's on May 6, but that is nothing compared to the injuries Flintoff has faced.

Flintoff, 31, was today ruled out of the two-match series against West Indies to undergo an operation on his right knee that will rule him out for around three to five weeks.

"I have found the last three weeks so frustrating and I have only had a broken finger," Cook said. "That is so minuscule compared to what Fred has had to go through.

"He just keeps coming back, getting through all the rehab, and to do it time after time must be so hard: you have to have respect what he has gone through.

"It is disappointing for English cricket that he won't be playing. We want to have our best players available and the public want to see them.

"He has shown his resilience to get back from so many injuries before and we hope he gets over this one quickly with the summer we have ahead of us."

"You always want to have your best side out but you cannot do anything about injuries," Cook added.

"We would always want Fred in our team but we have coped well without him in the past and we will have to do it again.”