Andrew Flintoff’s hopes of making his England comeback in the first npower Test against New Zealand at Lord’s on May 15 soared yesterday when he bowled for the first time since he had a fourth operation on his ankle last autumn.

Flintoff, who had not bowled since the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa last September, took two wickets in his second over and finished with two for nine from five overs as Lancashire thrashed Sussex by 109 runs in a challenge match in Abu Dhabi. Earlier, Flintoff, batting at No 5, had hit a six and two fours off successive balls before he was stumped for 15.“I suppose he’s bowling at 70 per cent, but his rhythm is good, his confidence is good and it all looks fluid,” Mike Watkinson, the Lancashire coach, said.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, was still railing against the reinstatement of Darrell Hair to the ICC’s elite panel of umpires yesterday, even though his old adversary is unlikely to stand in any more of his country’s matches.

It was Inzamam’s clash with Hair after Pakistan had been penalised five runs for alleged ball-tampering that led to them forfeiting the final Test against England at the Brit Oval in 2006 and the Australian umpire’s 19-month exile from Test and one-day international cricket.

The ICC has confirmed that Hair will not be asked to umpire any matches involving Pakistan, raising the question of what it is going to do about Steve Bucknor, the West Indian umpire, who was stood down from a Test in Australia during the winter after India objected to him.

“We would have to take a sensible approach,” David Richardson, the ICC’s general manager, said of the Hair issue. “We don’t want to put umpires in an almost impossible position where any mistake they make would be under such scrutiny that the pressure becomes impossible.”

Hair has also been involved in controversy in India and Sri Lanka, but Richardson suggested that this would not prevent him from standing in matches involving them. “It’s pointless having an umpire on the elite panel who is excluded from umpiring certain teams,” he said.

Where that leaves Bucknor remains to be seen, but it did nothing to placate Inzamam, who is still smouldering over the Oval debacle. “I am terribly shocked and disgusted at the news,” he said. “No player will now stand against injustices at international level.”

Charl Langeveldt has joined Andre Nel, his fellow fast bowler, in considering his future after withdrawing from the South Africa squad to tour India. Langeveldt, who is mixed race, had been chosen to replace Nel under the transformation policy that requires six nonwhite players in a 14-man squad burt felt he did not deserve selection.

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