England’s Pietersen, Flintoff fit for decider

LONDON, (Reuters) – England’s Kevin Pietersen and  Andrew Flintoff will be fit for Friday’s decisive Fifth One-Day  International against West Indies in St Lucia.

“Scans and x-rays have cleared Andrew Flintoff and Kevin  Pietersen of major damage. They’ll join the England squad in  St.Lucia tonight,” an England cricket board spokesman said on  Monday.

Pietersen suffered a back spasm during the nine-wicket  victory in Sunday’s rain-affected fourth match, which tied up  the series at 2-2, while Flintoff injured his thumb.

All-rounder Flintoff had an ultra-sound scan on his thumb,  which he injured when trying to take a hard caught-and-bowled  chance.

Captain Andrew Strauss played down Pietersen’s remarks in a  newspaper interview last week that he was at the “end of his  tether” and ready to go home.

“KP knows it’s an England tour and we all stick at it  together,” Strauss said. “As I said, he has been nothing but  supportive on this tour and very professional with the way he  has gone about his business.

“It’s not worth dwelling on his comments too much and now we  move to St Lucia. It’s over, I had a chat with him about it and  we move on from there.”

After a disappointing test series defeat, Strauss said  Friday’s final one-day international was a chance to raise  morale with an Ashes series looming against Australia.

“Friday is an opportunity to go home with some silverware  which would be very satisfying for the lads and give us some  momentum going into the summer,” he said.

“We need to get rid of that Jekyll and Hyde nature and back  to back wins would be a fitting end to the winter.”