I've no objections to Foster and would have had him on tour as Read's understudy ever since England toured Sri Lanka (with Jones learning to 'keep at county level rather than learning his trade on the international scene). He should certainly be the beneficiary IF Read is dropped... but unlike you... I don't believe Read should miss out just because Flintoff cannot play as a specialist bowler.

I agree that Flintoff wasn't fit enough to play as part of a four man attack in this Ashes series.. but the proper response would have been to rest Flintoff (sending him to recuperate in Perth with Vaughan). I certainly do NOt think the answer was to play an extra seamer in place of Joyce!

The longer term question is whether Flintoff is EVER going to recover enough to play as a front-line Test bowler. If he doesn't.. then I'd rather he just retired from Test cricket and focussed on being the best ODI bowler in the world (where 10 overs a day and rest days between matches might enable him to play for at least another 5-6 years).

ps. one longshot: Adil Rashid matures remarkably quickly as both batsman and/or leg-spinner... playing at 6 or 7 with Flintoff in the other spot, enabling Read to play at 8 and England to maintain a 5 man attack.