England batsman Kevin Pietersen will miss the remaining three Ashes Tests against Australia after undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on Wednesday.

Pietersen has struggled with the problem throughout the opening two Tests of the Ashes series and, after being assessed by a leading specialist on Wednesday, it was decided that surgery was the best option.

The 29-year-old has been ruled out for six weeks and he admitted it was massive blow to be sidelined while England, who lead the series 1-0 after winning the second Test at Lord’s, try to regain the Ashes.

“As an England cricketer the Ashes are the pinnacle of the game so I’m absolutely devastated to be missing the rest of this series,” Pietersen said.

“Up until now the Achilles injury has been manageable but it recently reached the point where we needed to look at other options in terms of treatment.

“I hate missing matches for England and especially during an Ashes summer but now that the decision has been made to undergo surgery I’m confident I can return to the England team injury-free following a course of rehabilitation.”

Pietersen, whose top score in the series was just 69, had hoped to play through the pain barrier for the rest of the series, but ECB Chief Medical Officer Nick Peirce admitted it was impossible to expect him to produce top-class performances while he was in so much discomfort.

“Following a consultation, involving scans and testing, with the world’s leading Achilles specialist Kevin Pietersen underwent surgery on his right Achilles tendon,” Peirce said in an ECB statement.

“Kevin will look to undertake a comprehensive rehabilitation programme to ensure there is no risk of recurrence. This is expected to be approximately six weeks but will be taken at an appropriate pace following constant review.

“Despite conventional conservative treatments to the tendon with trial periods of rest and rehabilitation, Kevin continued to be in significant discomfort and is currently unable to run or even walk comfortably.

“He had a strong desire to get through the Ashes series but despite this he has recently been unable to achieve a maximum level of performance.

“A number of short-term measures were considered but having been reviewed by the specialist, who flew into London from Sweden specifically, it was felt that anything else would put the tendon at risk and jeopardise his long term recovery.”

Although Pietersen, who originally suffered the injury against the West Indies earlier this year, played in the 115-run victory over Australia at Lord’s, he spent lengthy spells off the field and was clearly in pain when running.

He needed pain-killing injections to get through the match but the problem has got even worse after the heavy wear and tear of a five-day Test.

“I was pleased with the previous course of treatment as it allowed me to take part in this Ashes series but unfortunately the injury has recently deteriorated,” Pietersen said.

“To leave a winning dressing room at this time is heartbreaking but it wouldn’t be fair to the team or myself to continue given the severity of the injury.

“I’ll be supporting the team closely and wish them the best of luck as they look to build on the brilliant win at Lord’s and reclaim the Ashes.”

Pietersen’s absence is a massive blow to England’s hopes of holding onto their series lead. Andrew Strauss’s side are already keeping their fingers crossed that all-rounder Andrew Flintoff can make it through the rest of the series.

Flintoff is struggling with a knee injury that has forced him to announce his retirement from Test cricket at the end of the Ashes.

Warwickshire batsman Ian Bell is likely to come into contention as one of the main contenders to replace Pietersen.

Andrew Flintoff insists only a “very, very serious” injury would stop him firing England’s bid to regain the Ashes from Australia. 

Flintoff was named man of the match after a second-innings five-wicket haul in England’s dramatic second Test victory over Australia at Lord’s.

The 31-year-old’s performance came despite the pain of a persistent knee problem, which has put his fitness for the third Test at Edgbaston in doubt.

But Flintoff, who last week announced his retirement from Test cricket at the end of the series, is determined to go flat out for the remaining three Tests.

Flintoff told BBC Radio Five Live: “The good thing was I bowled a lot of overs and kept my pace up.

“I’d be lying if I said I’m not a little bit sore but I was confident when making the announcement that I was retiring from Test cricket that I had four to go, and now it’s three.

“It’d have to be something very, very serious not to play in the next three Test matches.”

Although his Lord’s performance showcased Flintoff’s ability, he added that he would not be tempted to go back on his retirement decision.

“There are no thoughts of changing my mind,” he said. “The things I am going through to get on the cricket field I can do short term but I won’t be able to do it much longer.”

Flintoff, speaking at the launch of his own charity, the AF Foundation, which seeks to raise money for children’s rehabilitation and physiotherapy units, added: “It was a team effort. It was nice to get the plaudits on the final day and get a few wickets but I think everyone at some point contributed.”

With three Tests to go and only a 1-0 lead, he also warned England not to rest on their laurels.

He said: “It is nice with a lot of people congratulating you but we can’t be complacent, we have only won one Test match.

“We have still got three to go and, knowing them (Australia), they are going to come back hard. We’ll just have to go that little bit harder.”

Simon Katich scored his maiden Ashes hundred and Australia captain Ricky Ponting also reached three figures to keep England at bay on the second day of the first Ashes Test on Thursday.

Australia, at stumps at Sophia Gardens, were 249 for one in reply to England’s first innings 435, a deficit of 186.

Left-handed opener Katich, dropped early in his innings, was 104 not out and Ponting 100 not out, with their unbroken stand worth 189.

Katich, who has been at the crease for nearly five hours, became the first cricketer to score a Test hundred in Wales when he pulled Andrew Flintoff to post his eighth century at this level off 214 balls with eight fours.

Ponting, who by contrast was compiling his 38th Test hundred, followed him to the landmark with a single off the penultimate ball of the day, also from Flintoff, to bring up a century in 155 balls with eight fours.

During the course of his innings Ponting joined Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and former Australia captain Allan Border as the only batsmen to have made more than 11,000 Test runs.

A still largely docile pitch was as much of a stumbling block to England’s attack as it had been to their Australian counterparts and highlighted the lack of truly fearsome fast bowlers on either side.

The one exception was Flintoff, who produced a ferocious burst when introduced into the attack after lunch that saw him remove opener and Ashes debutant Phillip Hughes.

Flintoff immediately tested the 20-year-old left-hander from around the wicket in a bid to cramp the batsman for room.

The pace bowler then saw Katich, on 10, drive the ball low and hard back at him only for Flintoff, in his follow through, to drop the difficult caught and bowled chance.

Hughes, who favours the offside, had made 28 runs off 30 balls before lunch.

But it was a different story after the break with the 20-year-old only managing eight off 24 in the face of some fiery bowling from Flintoff, playing his first Test of the season following a knee injury.

Hughes was eventually out for 36 when he inside edged Flintoff, the hero of England’s 2005 Ashes series win, and wicket-keeper Matt Prior held a good, low diving catch.

But that was as good as it got for England in the session, even though Flintoff, who took one wicket for 15 runs in six overs, several times beat Katich on the outside edge.

Off-spinner Graeme Swann reeled off five consecutive maidens on a pitch taking turn but Australia’s second-wicket duo were rarely troubled by him or left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.

However, Swann was convinced he had Katich lbw for 56 with a ball that pitched in line and spun past the batsman’s defences.

But West Indian umpire Billy Doctrove was unmoved.

Ponting produced a chanceless display, driving and pulling in typically authoritative fashion as he scored his eighth Test century against England.

Swann had had more success earlier in the day with the bat.

Coming in at no. 9, he made 47 not out and, together with James Anderson (26), had shared in a valuable ninth-wicket stand of 68 in just 53 balls before lunch.

Swann struck rival off-spinner Nathan Hauritz for three fours in a row, the last a cheeky reverse sweep that took England past 400 after they’d resumed on 336 for seven with all of their specialist batsmen out.

But he was left just short of his second Test fifty when last man Panesar edged Hauritz to Ponting in the slips.

Peter Siddle was rewarded for his perseverance with two late wickets as he helped Ashes holders Australia regain momentum at the end of a see-saw opening day in the first Test against England.

England were 336 for seven at stumps at Sophia Gardens on Wednesday after Siddle – like all the members of holders Australia’s attack making his Ashes debut – had removed Andrew Flintoff for 37 and Matt Prior for 56.

Flintoff played on after flat-footedly trying to cut. It was a poor stroke but the wicket was no more than fast bowler Siddle deserved and saw the end of a partnership of 86 which had taken just 95 balls to compile.

Wicket-keeper Prior, making his Ashes debut, was then bowled by a fine inswinging delivery from Siddle in the penultimate over of the day to leave the quick with figures of two wickets for 93 runs from his 23 overs.

Kevin Pietersen, who made 69, gave his wicket away to leave England 241 for five.

Pietersen had batted in largely responsible fashion until he rashly tried to sweep spinner Nathan Hauritz’s fifth ball back from well outside off-stump and top-edged a gentle catch to Simon Katich at short leg.

Off-spinner Hauritz’s first 14, unthreatening, overs had cost 41 runs. He’d been chosen ahead of experienced seamer Stuart Clark despite failing to impress in Australia’s warm-up matches where his two wickets cost 260 runs.

Pietersen batted for over three hours and faced 141 balls with four fours.

Flintoff, playing his first Test of the season after missing the home series win over the West Indies with a knee injury, struck a couple of booming drives to the delight of fans hoping he could repeat his Ashes heroics of 2005.

Prior, whose fifty came in just 54 balls, square-drove Siddle for four with one of the shots of the day.

Earlier, Australia’s quicks had bowled with great heart on a placid pitch to reduce England to 97 for three at lunch.

But a fourth-wicket stand of 138 between Pietersen and Paul Collingwood (64) brought the hosts back into the match.

The pair knew all about building a big partnership after sharing an England fourth-wicket record against Australia of 310 at Adelaide in 2006/07.

However, this latest alliance was ended when Ben Hilfenhaus tempted Collingwood unto pushing outside off-stump and wicket-keeper Brad Haddin held a diving right-handed catch.

South Africa-born Pietersen and Collingwood, who’d joined forces when England were 90 for three, batted through the second session and went 21 overs between boundaries.

When fast bowler Brett Lee, a veteran of 76 Tests, was ruled out Monday with a rib injury it meant Australia, who thrashed England 5-0 in 2006/07, would go into this match with no Ashes experience in their attack.

The bowlers were though given a boost by Mike Hussey.

Left-hander Alastair Cook (10), playing loosely away from his body against Hilfenhaus, saw Hussey hold a brilliant diving one-handed chance in the gully.

Ravi Bopara, hit second ball in the throat by lively first-change Siddle and on the head by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer, struggled.

By contrast, England captain Andrew Strauss, looked secure while making 30. Yet it was the left-hander, not Bopara, who gloved a well-directed Johnson bouncer to Clarke in the slips.

And Bopara’s innings of 35, which followed a run of three hundreds in as many Tests, ended when he spooned a catch off left-arm quick Johnson to Phillip Hughes at point.

Michael Vaughan believes Andrew Flintoff’s latest brush with authority can work in England’s favour when they begin their bid to regain the Ashes when the first Test starts on Wednesday.

Vaughan was England’s captain when they regained the Ashes in 2005, with all-rounder Flintoff playing a starring role as they won their first Test series against Australia since 1986/87.

But injuries have seen Flintoff, England’s captain when they were thrashed 5-0 in Australia in 2006/07, fail to recapture that form while he has blotted his copybook with several off-field incidents.

The most recent was during England’s pre-Ashes camp to Belgium when he missed the team bus for a trip to World War I battlefield sites, but Vaughan, who retired from all cricket last week, said he believed the hosts could turn that to their advantage.

“In a funny kind of way, what happened last week would have been a positive thing for him and the team,” said Vaughan, speaking at the launch of Virgin’s ‘fifty50′ charity initiative on Tuesday.

“Freddie (Flintoff) is very motivated and I’m really looking forward to him emulating what he achieved in 2005.

“He hasn’t played that much cricket of late but of the cricket I’ve seen he’s definitely bowling with that intensity and that pace and he’s going to be a real threat.

“I just want to see him get five-fors (five wickets in an innings), I want to see him really rip through the Australians and get big wicket hauls and if he does that his batting will look after itself because he will be going into bat with a lot of confidence.”

Vaughan, who has yet to decide on his post-cricket career despite being widely tipped to become a broadcaster on the sport, said he would have no problems being a spectator in Cardiff.

“I think this is going to be the easy one (to watch),” he said. “The last one was the most difficult because I’d missed it with injury and I’d had nine months previously in the gym and tried my hardest to get fit and it didn’t come off.

“This is probably the first Ashes series for four that I will be able to sit back and enjoy because the other two I either played in or I was injured for, so there’s no real pressure on me at all.”

Meanwhile Vaughan backed current England captain Andrew Strauss, who played four years ago, to match his 2005 achievement.

“Winning the Ashes is almost like winning a major in golf, it’s the pinnacle of being an England cricket captain,” said Vaughan. “There’s the World Cup and then there’s the Ashes, it really is that big.

“As a captain you always get remembered for what you do against Australia and that’s just the way it is.

“I’m hoping Straussy has a great time and the team play very well because I do think we’ve got a great chance of beating Australia.”

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said his current side were well-placed to avoid the errors that saw them lose the Ashes in England in 2005 as he prepared to lead them into this year’s edition.

“Where we were deficient in 2005 was not winning the crucial moments in that series,” Ponting, who oversaw Australia’s 5-0 Ashes series win on home soil in 2006/07, said at Sophia Gardens, where the first Test starts on Wednesday.

“We made enough mistakes to give England an opportunity to win some of those games,” the star batsman also said Tuesday.

He added: “We also saw from 2005 you can have a couple of stand-out players but still lose the series.

“Where we are at at the moment, the way we’ve prepared, the feel around the group, I am just sure we won’t make those mistakes again. I’ve got a really good feeling we are good enough.”

Ponting has yet to win an Ashes series in England as captain but he stressed it would be no more special for him to win them as skipper than as a player.

“It would be great for me, great for everyone in our squad.”

Australia will be without Brett Lee after the fast bowler was forced to withdraw Monday after damaging an abdominal muscle in his left side.

Now the 32-year-old, who has taken 310 wickets in 76 Tests, could be out until at least the third match of the series at Edgbaston.

However, Australia know about life without Lee, who missed their series win in South Africa earlier this year following foot and ankle injuries, with left-armer Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle sharing the new ball.

Ponting insisted the remaining competition for a spot in Australia’s attack had not come down to a straight choice between paceman Ben Hilfenhaus and off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, whose two wickets on this tour have cost 260 runs.

“We’ve got a number of different ways we can go. Do you play four quicks, three quicks and a medium-pacer (Andrew McDonald or Shane Watson), or three quicks and a spinner. All those things are right in the equation for us.”

This will be Australia’s first match in Cardiff since their shock loss here to Bangladesh in a One-Day International in 2005, where controversial all-rounder Andrew Symonds was dropped from the side on the morning of the game after a late night out in Cardiff.

“I don’t remember the Bangladesh game to tell the truth,” said Ponting, There’s a completely different feel around the ground.”

This will be the first Test ever played in Cardiff and Ponting, jokingly, said: “I’m expecting a lot of support down here, considering we are in Wales.

“The fans in England really appreciate good cricket. Yeah, we’ll kop a bit through the next couple of months but at the end of the day it’s generally pretty light-hearted and can help you get through a day’s play.

“The guys know the intensity in this series will lift from anything they have played in the past.”

Ponting added he first became aware of the importance of the Ashes as a teenager in Tasmania when his uncle, Greg Campbell, was selected for the 1989 squad that toured England.

“It goes back a long time for me. My uncle was selected in the 1989 Ashes touring squad. I remember going down to his house just after his kit arrived, with his baggy green (cap), his jumper and his playing shirts.

“To go through that and touch the baggy green cap was where the dream of playing Ashes cricket really all started.”

Australia start their Ashes defence on Wednesday without a single frontline bowler who has previous Test experience in England. 

The Australians took swift revenge after losing the Ashes 2-1 in England four years ago by winning the return series in Australia 5-0.

But they have lost Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, and on Monday their most experienced bowler Brett Lee pulled out of the first Test with a muscle tear. Fast bowler Lee has taken 310 wickets in 76 Tests.

Australia’s attack will be led by Mitchell Johnson, who played an important role with bat and ball in their series win over South Africa this year, a result which captain Ricky Ponting said was one of the most satisfying of his career.

“It’s almost 50 Test matches since the 2005 series,” Ponting told a news conference on Tuesday.

“There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of hunger around the group, there’s a lot of desire to build on things I think we started in South Africa. Our level of play over there was exceptionally high and our standards were very high.”

England captain Andrew Strauss, whose team made a flying start to the English summer with successive wins over West Indies, said the home side “were chomping at the bit to get out there”.

“I am very happy where we are with this squad, there’s a nice sort of relaxed excitement about what’s to come,” he said.

Both teams have delayed naming their final XI until Wednesday morning following a final pitch inspection before the first Test match to be staged in Wales.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting heads into the upcoming Ashes series against England looking to erase the one blot on a CV filled with outstanding achievements.

Ponting, one of the most talented batsmen of his and many another generation, has yet to captain his country to Ashes glory in England.

He was in charge when Australia lost their first Ashes series in nearly 20 years when England won 2-1 on home soil four years ago.

“I was disappointed to lose the Ashes in 2005 as the entire touring group were,” said Ponting. “I’ve been lucky to play in an era of Australian cricket that’s been very dominant.

“One thing I haven’t been able to achieve as captain is to win an Ashes series in England and I’ll make sure that I get that point across to the rest of the guys.”

Will he ever.

The fact the Tasmanian was in charge when Australia regained the Ashes 5-0 ‘Down Under’ in 2006/07 won’t lessen his determination to do well now.

His captaincy skills have been repeatedly ‘bagged’ with former Australia fast bowler Jeff Thomson stinging in his criticisms again this week.

But Thomson also said Australia had the better line-up and that may yet prove to be true even though they are now without retired stars Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.

The loss of leg-spin great Warne and accurate paceman McGrath, who between them took 49 wickets in the last Ashes series, has made life harder for Ponting in the field, as it would for any captain.

Even so he still led Australia to a Test series win in South Africa after the Proteas had had to perform brilliantly to win the preceding series in Australia.

They don’t have those legends they had but the guys that have come in have done a good job and they will be determined to make their own mark in Australian cricket,” said England captain Andrew Strauss.

In left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson and the emerging Peter Siddle, Australia have a lively pair of fast bowlers.

Meanwhile the way veteran quick Brett Lee reverse-swung the ball to take five wickets against England Lions at Worcester on Thursday suggested a skill that proved their undoing in 2005 has been mastered by at least one Australian.

But the question is have Australia’s batsmen got better at playing it? Left-hander Gilchrist was driven to distraction by Andrew Flintoff’s bowling in 2005 and Australia’s top order contains several of his fellow southpaws.

However, taking 20 wickets in a Test has proved a problem for England in recent times.

Flintoff, England’s hero four years ago, is coming back from a knee injury while star batsman Kevin Pietersen heads into the Ashes under the cloud of an Achilles problem.

England do at least appear to have more and better spin options than Australia although it will be up to the home side’s batsmen to give the likes of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar something to bowl at, even on a Cardiff pitch for next week’s Ashes opener which has a reputation for taking turn.

Off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, an unusually conservative selection by Australian standards, has rarely looked like taking a wicket so far on tour, a vindication of the damning assessment of former Australia captain Ian Chappell that containers should remain the preserve of the shipping industry.

“One of the great strengths of Australian cricket has been how adaptable we’ve been over a long period of time,” said Ponting.

“Yes Swann has done a good job in the games he’s played but I see him as being fairly similar to Nathan Hauritz. They are not overly big spinners.”

If Australia do leave Hauritz out, it will mean Ponting having to fiddle overs from the likes of Michael Clarke and Marcus North if his quicks are not to run the risk of burnout.

Australia opener Phillip Hughes burst on the scene in South Africa with back-to-back hundreds in only his second Test but the unorthodox left-hander was roughed up by fast bowler Stephen Harmison against the Lions.

Having said that Harmison, equally capable of sending the ball to second slip as he is of sending down a blistering bouncer, is currently out of the England side and may not feature in the Ashes at all.

In Strauss, England have a captain who helped unify the side after the fall-out from Pietersen’s enforced resignation from the post.

A sound opener it will be up to him and fellow left-hander Alastair Cook to give England a solid platform at the top of the order.

New England No 3 Ravi Bopara looked good against a lacklustre West Indies but how he goes during the Ashes remains to be seen – as indeed does the latest chapter in cricket’s oldest international rivalry.

Former Australia World Cup winning coach John Buchanan is being targetted by England and Wales Cricket Board to guide Andrew Strauss and Co in this year’s Ashes series.

ECB managing director Hugh Morris heaped praise on Buchanan, who is currently coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

England, without a coach after Peter Moores was sacked, suffered a humiliating innings and 23-run defeat to the West Indies in the first Test and officials are desperate to arrest the slide with the Ashes series round the corner.

“John Buchanan of Australia has won 75 per cent of matches at all levels, far more than anyone in the history of the game,” said Morris, adding that the ECB would shortly advertise for a performance director.

“We are looking for the best man for the job, someone who can create a positive atmosphere for the team, manage people well, manage coaches well, perhaps coach as well, and I’m confident we will find the right person to do that.”

Asked whether Buchanan needs to apply or he would be sought out by the board, Morris said, “Initially, we’ll open the process up. We would like it in place for the Ashes but it is most important to get the right man,” he was quoted as saying by the ‘Daily Mail’.