There is some breaking news on Cric.Info that Michael Vaughan fell into a pothole or something. No details yet, but if true that would be the last straw!

He fell in the pot-hole while training it seems, bet they wish they had not been so hasty with Flintoff now.
Anderson was also not able to bowl.
What was a pot-hole doing on the outfield where Test players are practicing?.click here .

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Ern

Maybe it was a virtual pothole .

I very much doubt it. They knew what they were doing. And as the vast majority of posters have made clear in the thread on that subject, in their views it was the right thing to do. Even Fred himself said so. I think it's you and Ian Botham against the world, Ern!

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Spike Milligan

I've raised the point somewhere before, but having read the article about Michael Vaughan's latest injury, I'm going to raise it again. Are England doing something wrong? It seems to me that England is having a lot of bad luck with the injury list over the last six months to a year - not based on any statistical work, just a gut feeling - and I wonder why that is.

Vaughan's latest problem seems to be due to a freak incident, but in this day and age, with huge amounts of money being poured into cricket in general and the ECB in particular, surely someone can be found to make a ground inspection before training starts? I know it's not foolproof and anyone could miss a bit of uneven ground in a cursory inspection - but the word used in the reports is "pot-hole", and apparently it was big enough for Vaughan to lose his foot in it. That, frankly, is big enough for someone given an hour to march up and down the pitch on a grid of lines ten metres apart to find. Heck: give me five minutes in the stand and a pair of decent binoculars and I'd find it without standing up! I guess it would cost thirty quid of someone's time to do a pitch or training ground inspection. Surely a worthwhile investment?

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Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
Spike Milligan

OF you have raised a point that I would have liked to have raised earlier, the reason I did not was I did not want to be seen to be making excuses for England losing the Ashes.
The last time England toured Australia - Simon Jones had that horrific injury, Flintoff was also injured, not being able to play.

This time in Australia - there have been injuries or problems with key players, Trescothick and Harmison sping to mind.
There have been other injuries on this combined tour to Vaughan and Anderson twice.

The result has been England using a sting of junior players, even if selection problems were in part to blame.

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Ern

No excuses involved! We lost the Ashes because we played slightly worse than schoolboy cricket at times when it really mattered (not to detract from the times when we also played well, such as the first four days at Adelaide for example). The Ashes went back to Australia in short because Australia played better overall, and I won't argue that one.

But what about this injury issue? Are England doing dangerous stuff in practice sessions? Cutting corners on basic safety like pitch inspections? I don't know - but I do wonder about it.

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Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
Spike Milligan

No I was not trying to make excuses OF - I also was wondering why the players seem so brittle.
There has been talk of England over training this world Cup.

There IMO should always be pitch inspections - that's just common sense.

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Ern

Englands medical team doesnt seem the strongest out there. Anyone remember Vaughan, S Jones and Flintoff trying to play through injuries/rest when recouperation and surgery would have been the better option, and would have meant the players ultimately missing fewer games?

We should pay the going rate and employ the best of the best.

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Mark.

Or it could be said the players suffer that much stress - they are driven to drink.

Seriously both Flintoff and jones played when they should not have.

jones was brought back to soon.
Flintoff got his surgery to late.

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Ern