Vaughan injured yet again, out of finals

England cricket captain Michael Vaughan was ruled out of the tri-series finals against Australia on Thursday due to a recurrence of his hamstring injury. Vaughan will be replaced by all-rounder Andrew Flintofff, who captained England when the visitors lost the Ashes series 0-5 and while Vaughan was recovering from a knee injury.

Vaughan, 32, aggravated his torn left hamstring in his side’s 14-run victory over New Zealand on Tuesday which sent England into the best-of-three finals against Australia starting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

Team officials said Vaughan will return to Britain on Saturday, having been advised to rest for a period of 10 days.

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Flintoff performed well individually in the three matches this series where he did not have to lead the side. England won two of those matches.

“People have got to realise it is a tough job playing such a good side at home.”

England will enter Friday’s match with some confidence after beating Australia by 92 runs last week in Sydney, and then fighting back to beat New Zealand on Tuesday in the last round-robin match.