Operation for Butcher ahead of Ashes clash

Mark Butcher is resigned to having surgery on the injured wrist which forced him to fly home early from England's triumphant tour of South Africa.

Yet the Surrey captain, who could face a race to be fit for the start of the new domestic season, still believes he can fight his way back into the side for a fifth and probably final crack at regaining the Ashes this summer.

Butcher felt mixed emotions at The Oval on Tuesday, delighted to watch the TV images of his England teammates sealing their 2-1 series triumph in Pretoria but frustrated that he couldn't be there helping them finish the job. The injury-jinxed lefthander, who played in the first two Tests, had to fly home a fortnight ago after damaging tendons in his left wrist during a gym work-out in South Africa.

Now he has been told by specialists that, still unable to grip a bat properly, he may require surgery. "They're not 100 per cent sure that's what they're going to do but if so, it will be a case of somehow welding the tendon back to the bone again," he said. "Afterwards, I'd have to be in a cast for a little while and it would take a couple of months to get back into action.

"It's frustrating but, to be honest, I was more fed up at the end of last summer when I had all those injuries against the West Indies and I got into the idea that, unfortunately, these things happen. I will be fed up, though, come July if things haven't improved and I haven't scored the runs I need to get back in the team."

Butcher accepts that as the England set-up's watchword these days is continuity, Robert Key, who replaced him in the crucial No3 spot in the final two Tests with indifferent results, is now clearly in pole position. As a result, barring injury problems for Key, the Kent man seems sure to start in England's next two Tests at home to Bangladesh, the supposedly gentle warm-up affairs before the Ashes series.