Miller defends Flintoff omission

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Flintoff's agent claims the 31-year-old informed England's selectors he was prepared to play through the pain barrier at Headingley but the offer was turned down.

"We had to guarantee that Fred could do the job required to bowl the overs," Miller told Radio Five Live. "We'd been monitoring his injury day by day and the selectors felt that it was better that he didn't play in that game."

The Lancashire star has an ongoing knee problem and failed to convince the medical team of his ability to make it through the penultimate Test unscathed during net sessions last week.

He will see a specialist on Monday ahead of a decision on his fitness for next week's fifth Test, and Miller believes it was right to leave him out of the Headingley encounter which England lost by an innings and 80 runs.

He added: "Yes, he might have thought he was fit to do a certain job but we had to work out whether he'd be fit to do a constant job, meaning bowl the amount of overs required to get the 20 wickets.

"We have to go on the medical advice. We know that Freddie's passionate to play for England, I accept that, but there are a lot of other ideals we have to work to, such as taking medical advice.

"If the medics say there's still a problem there, then we have to accept what their viewpoint is."