London, July 23: Andrew Flintoff fears Kevin Pietersen’s absence for the remaining three Tests against Australia could wreck England’s chances of regaining the Ashes. Pietersen will be sidelined for six weeks after surgery on an Achilles injury which had troubled him throughout the first two Tests.

The 29-year-old batsman, whose highest score in the series was just 69, had hoped pain-killers would allow him to help England build on the 1-0 lead they earned at Lord’s this week. But the injury, which first occurred against the West Indies earlier this year, deteriorated during the five-day clash and Pietersen agreed with advice from a specialist to have immediate surgery.

Now Andrew Strauss’s side face the prospect of heading into the third Test at Edgbaston next week on a low despite their impressive Lord’s performance. Flintoff, who is struggling with injury problems of his own, conceded Pietersen’s injury may give the Australians a major boost.

"He’s a massive influence on our team so it’s going to make it tougher for us — but he’s been in pain," Flintoff said. "He will be greatly missed and we wish him well — he’ll be gutted."

Setback for Lee

Brett Lee’s hopes of featuring in next week’s third Ashes Test at Edgbaston suffered a major blow on Thursday as the injury-plagued pace bowler was ruled out of Australia’s tour match against Northamptonshire. Lee has been sidelined for the first two Tests against England after injuring his side in Australia’s final warm-up match against the England Lions at the start of this month. With Ricky Ponting’s side trailing 1-0 in the series, the tourists had hoped to include Lee against Northamptonshire to prove his fitness for the Edgbaston clash.

But he was restricted to stretching and jogging exercises at the County Ground on Thursday, while his team-mates prepared in earnest in the nets to face their hosts in a three-day match starting on Friday. Mike Hussey, standing in as captain against his old county, later confirmed at a press conference that Lee will not be playing.

An Australia team spokesman declined to confirm Lee’s unavailability in Northampton definitely rules him out of an imminent Test return. But the consensus is that there is little chance of him being risked next week, unless in an emergency. — AFP