London: Andrew Flintoff will return as a fully-fledged allrounder and not a specialist batsman after his latest bout of ankle surgery, according to chairman of selectors David Graveney.

Flintoff, who didn’t played in the first two Tests against the West Indies, was ruled out of the third match of the series, starting on Thursday, after a third operation on his left ankle in as many years last week.

Flintoff, whose heroics with both bat and ball played a major part in England’s Ashes triumph in 2005, puts plenty of strain on the ankle during his delivery stride.

And with the international calendar showing no sign of being curtailed in the near future, many have wondered whether Flintoff will regularly be able to appear in both Tests and one-dayers as an allrounder.

One suggestion has been the 29-year-old play as a specialist batsman in the shorter form of the game.

“It’s an interesting theory,” said Graveney. “But as far as we’re concerned, Freddie is injured and has a number of weeks to get over this operation.

“But when he comes back, we would expect him to take part in all forms of cricket, one-dayers or Test matches.

“There has been a lot of speculation about whether Freddie will continue in the role of one of the leading allrounders in world cricket. We believe he’ll be playing a full part for England before the end of the summer,” Graveney added.