Wasim Akram has questioned England's decision to send his former Lancashire teammate Andrew Flintoff home next week after his sensational performance in the first one day international in Karachi.

The 22 year-old Flintoff is flying home to Manchester after the final match of the series on Monday to receive more treatment on his troublesome back in the hope that he will be able to resume his bowling duties for England in the future.

Since the summer, the young all-rounder has been restricted to batting only but this, Wasim claims, has been impressive enough to warrant his staying for the Test matches.

"I don't know why he's going home - he proved the other night that he can perform as a batsman," said Pakistan all-rounder Wasim, who played for two seasons with Flintoff at Lancashire.

"I've been saying for several years that if Freddie was a Pakistani he would have been a regular in our Test and one-day side for the past three years - the best way of bringing youngsters on is play them, like we did with Imran Khan as an 18-year-old.

"Why do England need him to bowl when he can play like that? I would pick him as a specialist batsman and tell him to go out and do exactly what he did against us the other night.

"He's always had the power in his shots, but now he seems to have worked out how best to use that at this level - and he can only get better with the more he plays."

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