London, August 07: England’s wicketkeeper, Matt Prior, has been passed fit after a last-minute injury scare that led to the toss being delayed by ten minutes ahead of the fourth Test at Headingley, but Andrew Flintoff has been ruled out after failing to overcome the damage to his troublesome right knee.
Stuart Broad retains his place ahead of Warwickshire’s Jonathan Trott and moves up to No. 7 in the order, with Steve Harmison coming into the side in Flintoff’s place, although by winning the toss and choosing to bat, Andrew Strauss has a chance to put a total on the board before unleashing his new-look attack.
In a dramatic morning, which for England started at 4.50am with a fire alarm at the team hotel, Flintoff’s omission was the least of their concerns. Prior suffered a back spasm while playing football during the team’s final warm-up, and with an hour to go until the start of play, it was looking very much as though Paul Collingwood would have to stand in as a replacement, just as he had done for a session of the Durham Test back in May.
Prior has been a pivotal influence for England throughout the series, with improved glovework allied to a hard-hitting approach at No. 6 in the batting order, and England would have been struggling to find the right team balance if neither he nor Flintoff had been fit to take the field. Warwickshire’s Tim Ambrose was understood to have been put on standby, but in the event, Prior recovered sufficiently to retain his place in the side.
In a situation reminiscent of Australia’s last-minute dramas at Edgbaston last week, England asked for the toss to be delayed by 10 minutes to allow more time to assess Prior’s fitness, a request that was approved by Ricky Ponting.
Flintoff’s meanwhile, struggled visibly during a 40-minute nets session on the eve of the match, and having received two injections ahead of the Edgbaston Test last week, he was unable to undergo any more this week on medical advice. He made it clear after his bruising performance at Lord’s that he was willing to play through the pain barrier in these, his final Tests, but during a training session at Headingley yesterday, he barely reached his top pace and bowled with a heavy knee brace.
Australia will go into the match with four quick bowlers, although Brett Lee will not be among them, despite his protestations that he was “100% fit” after recovering from the side strain that he suffered during the England Lions match at Worcester last month. Stuart Clark slots into the side for his first match of the series, at the expense of the spinner Nathan Hauritz.
England 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Ian Bell, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Stuart Broad, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 James Anderson, 10 Graham Onions, 11 Steve Harmison.
Australia 1 Simon Katich, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Marcus North, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Stuart Clark.
—–Agencies