Collingwood allays Flintoff fears

Paul Collingwood is delighted after wrapping up the NatWest Series victory © Getty Images

Following their victory over in India in the NatWest Series decider England captain Paul Collingwood immediately addressed concerns over the fitness of Andrew Flintoff.

Barely had Collingwood acknowledged the plaudits for England’s seven-wicket victory on the back of three wickets from Flintoff - and half-centuries from himself and Kevin Pietersen at Lord’s - before he had to confront the issue of Flintoff’s well-being.

It was around an hour after England sauntered to their first one-day series win on home soil for three years that the medical experts ruled premier all-rounder Flintoff was fit after all to fly to South Africa for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20.

Ryan Sidebottom, however, has been ruled out with Dimitri Mascarenhas being drafted in as a replacement, subject to ICC approval.

Yet as Collingwood awaited the verdict on a cricketer described by his opposite number Rahul Dravid as “half England’s team”, the captain admitted he has to be ultra-cautious with Flintoff as he continues to be beset by an injury to his left ankle.

Flintoff missed the fifth and sixth instalments of this seven-match series because of a problem which has now required three bouts of surgery.

But he was back with two big wickets at Lord's, adding an extra dimension to the threat posed by England’s pace attack in a match which saw India skittled for only 187 - with James Anderson and Dimitri Mascarenhas (3-23) also doing some damage.

“I think he was a little bit sore. But he obviously got through his 10 overs,” Collingwood said.

“We’re just going to have to assess how bad it is.

Andrew Flintoff was a little bit sore after bowling 10 overs

“Freddie is always willing - but obviously from a captain’s point of view, you don’t want to make anything worse.

“All the time, you’re asking if he’s okay. Today he said he was fine.”

India captain Rahul Dravid is acutely aware of Flintoff’s importance to England’s campaign.

“He is absolutely critical to England. He’s half their side, to be honest,” Dravid said.

“He makes a huge difference to England, the composition of the team they can play - what he can do coming in as a first-change bowler, his batting, his slip catching.

“Flintoff makes a huge impact.”

After addressing concerns over Flintoff the England captain hailed the opposition for their part in a thrilling few months of cricket.

“India have played some fantastic cricket this summer - they have been pretty aggressive,” Collingwood said.

“They came into this series as favourites - and I think from a young set of boys, to go out and win gives us all a lot of confidence for what we could do in the future.”

Dravid, meanwhile, would have dearly loved a victory to complete India’s comeback from 3-1 down in the series to end up with a clean sweep of success this summer.

“I am a little disappointed,” Dravid said. “It could have capped off a great summer. But we came second best, and credit to England. They deserved to win today.I think 4-3 is probably a true reflection of the series

“They played some very good cricket. We always had our backs to the wall right through; we fought back well last week - but to be honest, they were a slightly better side than us in the one-day format.”

“We gave it our best shot on the field - the disappointing thing was not getting more runs.

“When you’ve only got 187 you know you’ve got to keep attacking. I had to set really attacking fields - and even though they were 11 for two, then 70 for three we still needed wickets.

“We shouldn’t have been defending 187; we should have been defending a little more - and then our spinners would have been very useful.”