Flintoff hurts his knee,to miss rest of the IPL

The Chennai medical staff contacted the England and Wales Cricket Board medical officer Dr Nick Peirce following which a scan was carried out at a hospital in Durban.

The scan revealed a slight medial meniscal tear in the knee and after going through the reports,Peirce felt Flintoff should return to England.

The 31-year-old will undergo a keyhole surgery early next week and is likely to recover within three to five weeks but that will force him to miss the IPL after playing just two matches.

“Clearly this is a huge disappointment for both the player and the IPL team. This sort of degenerative injury though is one that could have happened at any time anywhere,” Peirce was quoted as saying on ECB’s website.

“The procedures we put in place meant that the ECB medical staff were alerted about the problem immediately and we thank Chennai for their co-operation.”

The 31-year-old Flintoff,who has been battling injury for some time now,is expected to be back for Ashes duty against Australia but is likely to miss the Test series against the West Indies.

“Andrew has been extremely unlucky with injuries but if there is one saving grace it is that the injury has occurred now rather than on the eve of either the ICC World Twenty20 or the npower Ashes,” said Hugh Morris,England cricket’s managing director.

“Having the surgery now means that Flintoff should be available for both those events although he is certain to miss the npower Test series against the West Indies,” he said.