England lose Pietersen

England batsman Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series against Australia after having surgery on an Achilles tendon injury...

England batsman Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series against Australia after having surgery on an Achilles tendon injury,the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Wednesday. The 29-year-old right-hander,Englands leading batsman with a Test average of 49.96,was hampered by the injury during the second match of the series which finished on Monday.

Following a consultation,involving scans and testing,with the worlds leading Achilles specialist Kevin Pietersen today underwent surgery on his right Achilles tendon, ECB chief medical officer Nick Peirce said in a statement.

Kevin will look to undertake a comprehensive rehabilitation programme to ensure there is no risk of recurrence. This is expected to be approximately six weeks.

Pietersen said he was very disappointed to miss the last three Tests of the series. As an England cricketer the Ashes are the pinnacle of the game so Im absolutely devastated to be missing the rest of this series, Pietersen said.

Up until now the Achilles injury has been manageable but it recently reached the point where we needed to look at other options in terms of treatment. I hate missing matches for England and especially during an Ashes summer but now that the decision has been made Im confident I can return to the England team injury-free following a course of rehab.

Flintoff hopes to play

Meanwhile,Englands star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff,who announced his retirement from Test cricket after the Ashes series,has expressed hope to figure in all the remaining games. My aim in this series was to get on the field. The pleasing thing was I bowled all my overs. I may be in a bit of discomfort but Ive spent most of my career in discomfort. Thats nothing new. Weve got three more Test matches. I want to play a major part in them and a major part in the teams success. Im confident. Ill do anything to get through these next three Tests, Flintoff said.

Rudi blames cheating batsmen for errors

London: Stung by criticism after the second Ashes Test,umpire Rudi Koertzen on Wednesday hit back at batsmen who refuse to walk after nicking the ball,saying it was because of this cheating that umpiring has become such a difficult job. It is a shame that you have to do it that way. The players will stand there,nick the ball and wait for the umpire to make a decision. For me,thats cheating, Koertzen told Cricinfo. Why dont you get off

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the field and make it easy for the game? There would be more pleasure in the game. Koertzen defended his decision of not referring the catch claimed by Strauss to the third umpire. So long as one of

the on-field umpires is sure that the ball has carried,the decision will stay on the field. PTI