Flintoff out for Lions

12 April 2012

Andrew Flintoff's return to competitive cricket hit a temporary barrier, after he was ruled out of England Lions' defeat to Maharashtra in Mumbai.

Lancashire all-rounder Flintoff, 30, was due to play his second one-dayer of the week - but a stomach bug stopped him taking any part in the two-wicket loss.

He is in India with England's second string, as he steps up his comeback from a fourth operation on his left ankle, and made just four runs in Tuesday's victory over Mumbai.

England Lions were further disrupted when captain Michael Yardy was struck down with a migraine shortly before play began at the Brabourne Stadium.

With the toss - which the tourists lost - already having taken place, it meant the English side were forced to bat with 10 men.

Hampshire's Michael Carberry, whose hundred proved the cornerstone of a three-wicket victory two days ago, struck 67 off 84 balls as the Lions posted 182.

Left-hander Carberry hit seven fours and a six as he showed his fondness for the Cricket Club of India headquarters.

But Yorkshire all-rounder Adil Rashid was the only other batsman to weigh in with a score, hitting 40.

The Lions were kept in the contest thanks to a fine new-ball spell from Durham's Graham Onions which saw him claim four wickets.

Onions then returned for a second burst later in the innings and caused further damage to reduce Maharashtra to 160 for eight. Onions finished with figures of 10-0-39-7. But general waywardness - in all 19 runs were given away in wides - cost the Lions dearly.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in