Jones ruled out of series decider

Simon Jones has been ruled out of the Ashes series decider at The Oval, which starts on Thursday, after failing a fitness test on his injured right ankle. Jones, 26, underwent a vigorous workout at Lord's this morning, under the supervision of England's physiotherapist Kirk Russell, but felt too much discomfort and it was decided he would not be risked for such a crucial encounter.

"There was no chance. It is a sickening blow," Jones said afterwards. "I have had a few injuries in my career. These things happen and you have to get over the disappointment. You have to just get on with the job and I'll have a chat with the medical staff and see what I can do in the next few weeks to get over this ankle injury."

Every effort had been made to get Jones back to full fitness in time, and he spent several sessions in an oxygen chamber in a bid to speed up the healing process. The England camp had been quietly optimistic about his chances of recovery. "I'm going to go home and chill a little bit and then I will come back to be with the boys," Jones said. "It's not very nice watching but sometimes you have to do that to support the boys."

"Simon did everything that was asked of him to try and recover in time for this Test," Dr Peter Gregory, the ECB's chief medical officer, said, "and as a consequence made progress with his rehabilitation over the weekend. Unfortunately he reported pain and discomfort in the ankle after a light jogging session this morning at Lord's and was subsequently ruled out.

"He will continue to receive treatment over the next fortnight, and the injury will be reassessed by the ECB medical team on a regular basis. No decision will be made on Simon's availability for the tour of Pakistan until we have had an opportunity to assess how the injury responds to a period of rest."

Both Glenn McGrath and Andrew Flintoff have suffered similar ankle injuries in the recent past, and both were required to undergo surgery to correct the problem. "Surgery is an option," Gregory acknowledged, "but the advice we have received from two leading specialists in the field is that the injury may still settle without recourse to an operation."

England had been set to name an unchanged XI for the first completed series since 1884-85. The final place in the side will go either to James Anderson, Jones's long-term seam-bowling understudy, who has been returning to form with Lancashire this summer, or Paul Collingwood, whose extra batting and fielding prowess would compensate for the absence of a fifth frontline bowler.