The future of Andrew Flintoff as a barnstorming all-round force is in doubt after England finally bowed yesterday to the inevitability of a third operation on his injured left ankle. Flintoff is to undergo keyhole surgery at the weekend and will struggle to be fit for the start of the Test series against India in mid-July.

Three weeks of confusion and obfuscation ended with an ECB statement confirming that Flintoff, 29, still felt discomfort when he bowled at full speed in the nets in Hove on Tuesday before Lancashire’s LV County Championship match against Sussex.

The good news is that the injury is believed to be an impingement at the front of the ankle rather than a recurrence of trouble at the back of the joint, which required operations in February 2005 and July 2006. In both cases, he was out for about three months.

Dr Nick Peirce, the ECB’s chief medical officer, said: “This current problem is separate to the previous posterior impingement injury and, while a comprehensive time-scale of rehabilitation will be clearer following the operation, the recovery period is not expected to be as long as it was after previous surgery.”

Nevertheless, Flintoff has been unofficially ruled out of the remaining two Tests against West Indies as well as the three-match one-day series that follows. Dr Simon Moyes, an orthopaedic surgeon with experience of treating ankle injuries in sportsmen, predicted that Flintoff will be out for about six weeks.

It is inconceivable that Flintoff will go straight back into the Test side before he has demonstrated a full recovery in the championship. That Lancashire do not have a four-day game in the week before the first Test against India, beginning on July 19, makes the later stages of the series a more feasible target.

Flintoff said: “Having bounced back from ankle surgery before, I know how much work is ahead of me, but I am desperate to get back playing for England as soon as possible. The rest and rehabilitation appeared to be helping the ankle, but it now seems that an operation is the only option.”

The selectors are now spared from having to drop Ian Bell for the third Test against West Indies at Old Trafford a week today, but against India – a better batting side and in conditions less helpful for seam and swing – England may need the insurance of a fifth bowler. That is when Flintoff would be seriously missed, because there is no like-for-like replacement of remotely comparable standing – unless Peter Moores, the head coach, knows of another rabbit such as Ryan Side-bottom that he can pull magically from the county game.

Even when he does recover, Flintoff will need to be managed more carefully than ever. He cannot play as part of a four-man attack and nor, in Test rather than one-day cricket, will he feature as a specialist batsman. The most effective way to prolong his career may be for him to bowl between 12 and 15 overs per day instead of operating as a spearhead or stock bowler brought on to provide control.

Even within six months of his most recent operation, Flintoff had begun to suffer more trouble in the ankle and he required a cortisone injection to get through the Ashes series. Despite expressing a reluctance to have further jabs, he received another in the build-up to Lord’s a fortnight ago.

He was ruled out of that game and again two days before the second Test at Headingley Carnegie, despite bowling what looked like a quick spell in the nets. Surgery, the last resort, at least ends the unsatisfactory game of “will he or won’t he” that has served to distract in the build-ups so far.

It will also stop the inevitable crossing of wires that caused Moores his first embarrassment since taking over from Duncan Fletcher, when he said on Sunday that Flintoff would play for Lancashire in a one-day game the next day, clearly unaware that the county had ruled him out more than an hour earlier.