Australia captain Ricky Ponting says England may be better off without Andrew Flintoff in their Ashes side, unless the key player is 100 per cent fit.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting says England may be better off without Andrew Flintoff in their Ashes side, unless the key player is 100 per cent fit.
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All-rounder Flintoff will miss the Twenty20 World Cup opening at Lord's next week after surgery on a knee injury sustained in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Ponting said Flintoff was not the force he had been in 2005 when he led England to a 5-0 defeat in Australia 18 months later after an injury comeback.
"Flintoff is obviously very important to England's set-up," Ponting told BBC.
"Maybe, as we saw in 2007, if he's not 100 per cent fit then maybe that sort of impact he can have is not there."
Ponting, whose team are currently based in Nottingham preparing for the ICC World Twenty20, begin their five-Test Ashes defence on 8 July.
He was happy to give his views on Flintoff, who tore knee cartilage while playing in the IPL in April - and was subsequently ruled out of all England's international cricket until the Ashes.
Whether or not to field Flintoff in the first Test at Cardiff - perhaps on the back of just a game or two for Lancashire - will be "the great decision the England selectors are going to have to make," said Ponting.
"In 2005 and in 2007 we saw two completely different players and that had a lot to do with the level of fitness that he had under his belt going into each series.
"That's where they're going to have a tough decision to make."
Flintoff was the outstanding player in England's 2005 Ashes triumph but failed to make the same impact as captain in the return series in Australia, won 5-0 by the home side.
Ponting, who opted out of the IPL to prepare for the Twenty20 World Cup and the Ashes defence, said the rest had done him good.
"For me it was pretty simple, it was about how long our summer was and how much cricket we played," he said.
"It was a good opportunity for me to have a couple of weeks off cricket and make sure that when I got here for the start of this tournament I was in the best physical and mental shape I could be."
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