England's Flintoff ruled out of second test

LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) England's Andrew Flintoff has been ruled out of Friday's second test with the West Indies in Headingley after failing a fitness test.

The all-rounder missed the drawn first test at Lords with an ankle injury and despite batting for his county side Lancashire last weekend, has failed to recover in time.

''It was deemed that Andrew's ankle did not demonstrate sufficient improvement after his first bowling session today and the best decision was to rule him out now without a further assessment tomorrow,'' the English Cricket Board medical team said in a statement today.

Fellow bowler Matthew Hoggard has already been ruled out of Friday's test, meaning Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson could play for the first time in the series.

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