ANDREW Flintoff has been primed for a Headingley return against South Africa after national selector Geoff Miller insisted England's Test team had not become a 'cosy club'.
The opening match of the npower series at Lord's next week came too soon for 30-year-old Flintoff, who celebrated his return to County Championship action with a first half-century in 14 months on Wednesday.
Despite maintaining consistency of sele
ction, however – England will create Test history if they field the same XI for the sixth consecutive match on Thursday – there were strong hints all-rounder Flintoff is on the verge of ending an 18-month exile in Leeds in a fortnight.
After, as expected, naming an unchanged 12-man squad for the opener in a four-match campaign, Miller warned against consistency turning into complacency.
"If there is somebody in a situation where they can overtake them and we think they can perform better for us, then we would do that," said Miller.
"We've left bowlers out in New Zealand and that made a difference, and at one stage we left Andrew Strauss out as well, so it is not a cosy club at all. It is our decision if they're good enough to stay in the side or not."
Miller added: "We have been in constant communication with Andrew over a period of time and we just need to see a few more miles in the legs and a few more runs from the bat. But England is a better side, as we know, with a fully fit Andrew Flintoff."
A lack of productivity with the bat between the numerous ankle operations of recent years has pushed the selectors to re-consider 30-year-old Flintoff's role in the side.
One mode of thinking was to slip him down to number seven, and use him in a four-man attack, rather than his more accustomed position of number six.
"If he starts putting in the performances with the bat that he used to be able to we would probably think in those terms," said Miller.
• The International Cricket Council have delayed a decision on whether Zimbabwe should be expelled from the top level of the game.
The African nation's future cricketing status was discussed at length on the second day of the ICC's board meeting in Dubai yesterday, but the matter has been adjourned until today.
The full article contains 409 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
