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England gamble on Flintoff Wisden CricInfo staff - August 16, 2002
Despite their much-documented string of injuries, England have made just one change to their squad of 13 for the third Test at Headingley which starts on Thursday (August 22), recalling the fit-again Andy Caddick in place of the incapacitated Craig White. Included in the 13 is Andrew Flintoff, although he will undergo a fitness test on his long-standing groin injury later in the week to assess whether playing him is a gamble worth taking. It is indicative of how important Flintoff has become to England's plans that he is even being risked when the sensible option would be do let him undergo the surgery he needs as soon as possible – it is also a sign of how crowded the international schedules have become that there is no natural break in the coming months where he can go under the knife without missing some tournament or another. With Simon Jones still not recovered from the side injury he picked up at Lord's, Alex Tudor and Steve Harmison retain their places in the squad. Jones is expected to play for Glamorgan this week and should be back in the reckoning in time for the final Test. England's other two fitness worries – Dominic Cork and John Crawley – were both cleared to play after tests on Friday. The Headingley pitch is no longer the guaranteed seamer of old, giving Ashley Giles a chance of a recall, but England may still prefer to stick with the pace attack which they fielded at Trent Bridge. Caddick will slot in for White, and Tudor might be preferred to Cork whose bowling at Nottingham was far from convincing. Only if Flintoff doesn't make it will England have a real problem, with White definitely out and Cork and Tudor not really good enough to bat No. 7 in a Test. From having the luxury of having Flintoff and White, both Test with Test hundreds to their name, batting at Nos 7 and 8, England will be faced with fielding a side with a worryingly lengthy tail. England (from): Nasser Hussain (capt) (Essex), Mark Butcher (Surrey), Andy Caddick (Somerset) , Dominic Cork (Derbyshire), John Crawley (Hampshire), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire), Steve Harmison (Durham), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Robert Key (Kent) , Alec Stewart (Surrey) , Alex Tudor (Surrey) , Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire)
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