Cricket story by Gareth Bowman, Tue, 06 Dec 2005 16:16:00 GMT


LONDON - England captain Michael Vaughan is all set to miss the one-day series against Pakistan as he has been advised surgery on his troublesome knee. The injury kept Vaughan out of the first test against Pakistan and although he recovered to play the remaining two tests, there were still some doubts about his fitness as he was hobbling around in the final test.

England lost the three test series 2-0 and now has five one-day internationals to follow.

Commenting on Vaughan's upcoming surgery, ECB's chief medical officer, Dr Peter Gregory said, "This procedure will allow treatment of any problems identified and being done in the next few days should allow sufficient time for Michael to recover for the tour of India next year." He added that Vaughan would first have an arthroscopy to evaluate the extent of damage. Dr. Gregory was optimistic of Vaughan's chances of touring India in February next.

Michael Vaughan himself was categorical in stating that surgery was his only option, "I'm bitterly disappointed to be missing the one-day matches against Pakistan, but surgery really is the only option for me at the moment. Hopefully I can make a full recovery in time for the tour to India in the early stages of next year," he said.

In his absence, Marcus Trescothick will lead the England team in the one-dayers. A visibly tired England team will not have much heart in these matches especially with the holiday season fast-approaching.

However, Trescothick said that the side needed to learn from the experience in Pakistan so they could adapt more quickly on the Indian tour, "India is the next biggest tour after the Ashes. If our Pakistan experience makes us knuckle down and adapt to conditions quicker then it will give us a better opportunity of winning over there," he said.

Turning his attention to the upcoming one-day series, Trescothick said that the biggest challenge was to understand the powerplays. "It might be a bit difficult to begin with," he admitted adding that the series was going to be a test of character for the team.

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