England have sent Andrew Flintoff back to the ECB Academy in a desperate attempt to get him fit for the first Ashes Test at Brisbane on November 7. Flintoff's slow recovery from a hernia operation in the summer has left England with a serious problem ahead of the opening Test, and with their physiotherapist Kirk Russell grossly overworked, it has been decided to give Flintoff intensive one-on-one treatment at the Adelaide Academy.

"While Andrew's recovery programme is running behind schedule, we remain confident he will be able to take part in the Ashes series," said Duncan Fletcher, the England coach. "We feel the medical team at the Academy are best placed to give Andrew the intensive one-on-one treatment he needs."

Flintoff added: "Hopefully, I will become fitter quicker by having intensive treatment. I certainly still have aspirations and hopes for the first Test. I am definitely not ruling myself out."

A year ago, Flintoff was included in the inaugural Academy squad, but was then summoned to India after a rethink from Fletcher. It shows how far he has come that, within 12 months of being surplus to requirements, he is the pivot without which England cannot function.

Two other key cogs in the England machine, Michael Vaughan and Darren Gough, have both been ruled out of the two-day match against Western Australia, which begins at the WACA in Perth on Thursday. They are also unlikely to play in the three-day match against the same opponents that begins on Monday.

"Vaughan has a very good chance of playing in the next three-day match against Queensland, starting in Brisbane on November 2," Fletcher said. "Gough is pretty positive. He has bowled on each of the past two days and there has been no reaction. He is feeling pretty bullish at this stage.

"We don't want to push him too soon. We'll just have to wait and see. We won't know whether he is ready for the Test unless he is ready for the Brisbane three-day game."

It looks increasingly likely that England will have to call for reinforcements at some stage, with Alex Tudor the man most likely.

"Tudor is at the Academy in Adelaide and other players are around in Australia, practising, and if the injuries don't work out, we may have to make a decision to bring them in," Fletcher said.

Fletcher also played down his side's 58-run defeat in the tour opener at Lilac Hill on Tuesday, in which Steve Harmison bowled seven consecutive wides.

"We had only been here three or four days and we were not playing our one-day squad and it was our first workout," he said. "He [Harmison] took a bit of a beating, but he is not even in our one-day bowling squad, and this was a one-day game. He pushed the batters onto the back foot a bit."

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