Andrew Flintoff on crutches for minimum 6 weeks

London:

England all-arounder Andrew Flintoff will be on crutches for at least six weeks after undergoing surgery on his damaged right knee.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said on Tuesday that the 31-year-old Flintoff had microfracture surgery in London on Monday night.

The operation addressed an injury that ruled him out of one of England's five Ashes tests against Australia and affected his performance in another.

Flintoff has played in pain for much of the past few years and retired from test cricket after England's series-winning victory at The Oval on Sunday. England won the match in four days, allowing the surgery to be brought forward from Tuesday.

Flintoff wants to continue playing limited-overs matches for England but is out of the two Twenty20 and seven One-Day Internationals against Australia, as well as the subsequent Champions Trophy in South Africa.