Fast bowling all-rounders burdened at int'l level: Surgeon

Heavy international schedule could cut short careers of many fast bowling all-rounders like Andrew Flintoff, feels a leading knee surgeon.

Heavy international schedule could cut short careers of many fast bowling all-rounders like Andrew Flintoff, feels a leading knee surgeon.

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Dr Derek Bickerstaff, who has operated on the likes of Michael Vaughan, Darren Gough, Simon Jones and Paul Collingwood, feels players like Flintoff go about their job with intensity and end up wearing down too soon to sustain it in the longer version.

"Generally, there is too much cricket being played and too much of it on hard grounds. The pressure being placed upon fast bowlers and particularly all-rounders is too great," Bickerstaff said.

"Flintoff is a player of tremendous energy and intensity; one of those cricketers who always gives 110 per cent. Darren Gough was quite similar in that regard, and after a while he was unable to withstand the rigours of a five-day game," he was quoted as saying by the 'Cricinfo'.

"Quite simply, there is too much cricket being played, and it is having a big impact on players," he added.

Tired of nursing injuries one after the other, 31-year-old England all-rounder Flintoff announced retirement from Test cricket on Wednesday.