Flintoff ready for New Zealand: Trescothick

LONDON—Andrew Flintoff is “ready to go” for England’s first Test against New Zealand next month according his former team-mate, Marcus Trescothick.
Flintoff, who was playing his second match for Lancashire since ankle surgery over the winter, bowled 16 quick overs to return figures of 2 for 40 against Somerset.
“He’s ready to go,” said Trescothick after Lancashire closed on 60 without loss in reply to Somerset’s 238. “That’s as good as he’ll bowl - I don’t think he’ll get into a Test match against New Zealand in a couple of weeks’ time and bowl any differently. Bowling-wise, he’s ready.
“It was tough. He bowled really well today - very consistent pace,” he said. “It was normal ‘Freddie’ - you never would have known he would have had much of a lay-off.”
Trescothick was dropped three times during his 77 - twice off Flintoff’s bowling - but there was no let-up in Lancashire’s attack. James Anderson and Glen Chapple opened the bowling and, after Flintoff, Saj Mahmood bowled 14 overs to pick up 3 for 54.
“You probably won’t see a better [Championship] attack all season than those four, and it was a real challenge,” Trescothick said. “They were Test match conditions out there for a quite a long time. If you can get runs against these guys, you can pick up runs against most people.”
Flintoff’s ankle was operated on over the winter and he made his comeback for Lancashire in their drawn match against Surrey at The Oval last week. He only made 23 with the bat but returned the encouraging figures of 1 for 72 from 28 steady overs in Surrey’s 537 for 5 declared. “I have always been confident coming back but when you’ve had four operations you have a bit more knowledge about your ankle,” Flintoff said last week. “I just turned up here to play a game of cricket under no concern about how my fitness was going to be.”
England’s first Test against New Zealand, who arrived at Heathrow this afternoon, gets underway on May 15 at Lord’s.

—Agencies