England will decide today whether to risk Andrew Flintoff for the second npower Ashes Test at Lord's starting tomorrow after being encouraged by the surgeon who operated on his injured right knee in April.

Flintoff, who has had an injection to try to ease the pain, is due to bowl at practice this morning having only batted yesterday after his “precautionary” scan on Monday evening. The problem flared during the first Test in Cardiff, where he bowled 35 overs spanning three days - his longest workload for almost a year - raising fears over his prospects for the series.

But Andy Flower, the England team director, said: “The suggestion is that he might be OK. With his injury record we are always concerned, because at this stage of his career he seems vulnerable a lot of the time. We cannot get away from that, but he is a hell of a player and we want him in the side when fit.”

Although Stephen Harmison was chosen in the squad ostensibly as a stand-in for Flintoff, Flower suggested that the pair may play together, defending the Durham bowler against accusations of letting down England in the past. “I never drew a line under Steve,” Flower said. “If that is the perception people have, I can do nothing about it. His form has gone up and down, as it does with all cricketers, but he has a good record.”

Flower said that he was surprised by the “hullaballoo” about the closing stages of the draw at the SWALEC Stadium with Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, accusing England of time-wasting and failing to play in the spirit of the game.

Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach, has fanned the flames by writing in his newspaper column: “If any side in the world does not play within the spirit of the game it is Ponting's Australians.”

Flower said that in the last two hours, batsmen had not indulged in time-wasting by holding extensive chats in the middle, knocking down the pitch, changing gloves or calling for regular drinks. In wanting to avoid a repeat of the recent one-day international in Guyana that West Indies lost when John Dyson, the coach, misread Duckworth/Lewis numbers, England's twelfth man was sent on to verify that time, and not the number of overs, would be the determining factor in when the match would end.

Flower also pointed out that England have twice won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award, the first time in 2005 after the most recent Ashes series in this country.

“Let's keep this in perspective and not nail the England team,” Flower said. “I do not like the sort of attention that has been given to this, the way it has been seized upon.

“Ricky has his own opinion and I respect that. He has been a very good ambassador for Australia and a very good cricketer, but in this instance I think he has made a meal of it.”