Is it all over for Flintoff after latest knee op?

Andrew Flintoff's hopes of resuming his cricket career appear to be fading fast after he underwent yet another operation on his right knee, which will prevent him from playing until July.

That means he will miss the lucrative Indian Premier League tournament beginning in March, which would have earned him £1m. He has also been ruled out of England's World Twenty20 campaign in the West Indies in May.

If and when he does make his comeback it will be almost a year since the 32-year-old's last game - England's Ashes-securing win over Australia at the Oval in August.

Flintoff announced last year that he was retiring from the Test scene in an attempt to prolong his career in other forms of the game. Immediately after the Ashes he underwent 'micro-fracture' surgery on his right knee and moved to Dubai for six months to rehabilitate.

Before Christmas he said he was feeling fit and that his surgeon and physio were "very pleased" with his progress. But the news of the latest operation has led many to write him off, even though the player still harbours hopes of returning to cricket.

Strangely, the procedure was described as a routine arthroscopic operation to check the healing on his knee. But, although the "routine" procedure has delayed his comeback by a further six months, Flintoff is upbeat. He said: "The news of my recovery has led me to believe I may play in all forms of cricket for Lancashire."

Even if he does make a full recovery over the summer he will not be available for England until their one-day series against Pakistan in September. And his chances of commanding anything like the same money he was promised this year from an IPL outfit in 2011 would seem to be slim, given his injury record. ·