Lancashire pace bowler James Anderson has been called into England's one-day squad as cover for Andy Caddick.

The 21-year-old was asked to fly to Melbourne from the National Academy at Adelaide after Caddick suffered a knee injury in Tuesday's game against an Australian Prime Minister's XI.

Anderson's chance has arrived after only 11 appearances in first-class cricket and two one-day games for his county.

England have been dogged by injuries since arriving in Australia, with Darren Gough, Simon Jones, Chris Silverwood and Jeremy Snape all having to return home.

Anderson is the second replacement to be called into the one-day squad, with Worcestershire's Gareth Batty having already taken over from spinner Snape, who broke his thumb against New South Wales.

England, meanwhile, are set to make a final decision on whether Anderson's Lancashire teammate Andrew Flintoff should stay with the squad or fly home.

Flintoff is still not fully fit following a hernia operation and Surrey captain Adam Hollioake is already on stand-by to replace him.

"We have to decide what is the best thing to do for Andrew Flintoff and the team.

"It's discussed every day and will have to be resolved in the next 24 hours," said England skipper Nasser Hussain.

We have to do the most professional thing for him Hussain on Flintoff

Flintoff played in all three of England's warm-up games ahead of the VB Series, but took two wickets at a cost of 120 runs and only managed scores of seven, 14 and 13 with the bat.

"At the moment, he can probably bowl four or five overs to his potential at best, and he is a bit stiff in the field.

"Obviously he can play on Friday, but it's whether it's the right thing to do or not," Hussain added.

"We need to decide whether we're quite happy for him to play the way he is or whether he should go back to England and have his problems sorted out or whether he should stay here and have a rest and get ready for the World Cup."

Hussain, meanwhile, has dismissed reports that he plans to step down as captain after the World Cup in South Africa next March.

Commenting on a report in the Daily Mail newspaper, he insisted: "I've not made any decisions on my future. I haven't made any decisions at all."