England, June 17: Andrew Flintoff will bat at number five for England in Tuesday's day-night match against Pakistan at Old Trafford. The Lancashire all-rounder has come in at number six or seven for the majority of his 52 previous one-day international appearances for England. But he has been given a new role that should see him transformed from a final-overs slogger to a key batsman. Flintoff was given the position on Saturday during England's eight-run warm-up victory over Wales in Cardiff. Although he lasted only six balls for a duck, he will continue in the experimental role against Pakistan. "We've indicated to him that we'd like to see him bat at number five and just play as a normal batter," explained captain Michael Vaughan.

"We've used him in the past lower down and later on in the innings to try and hit the ball out of the ground, but I think Freddie (Flintoff) has got the ability to get big hundreds from number five.

"He's obviously been in good form for Lancashire, but it's a different environment playing international cricket with 18,000 people on his home ground. "It's a great opportunity, too, for Freddie to show everybody what a good player he is."

England's day-night international at Old Trafford is the first of three matches against Pakistan prior to the start of the NatWest Triangular tournament involving South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Bureau Report