Blackwell the latest to join England's walking wounded

England's mounting medical bill in Australia had another two items added to it here yesterday when Michael Vaughan and Ian Blackwell became the latest players to pay a visit to an accident and emergency ward.

Vaughan's visit to a specialist was not to have his right knee looked at again, but to have an injection in his right shoulder. After receiving a painful blow to the joint from the Australian fast-bowler Jason Gillespie during the Test in Adelaide four weeks ago, the recovery of the England opener has been slow.

The injury will not keep the 27-year-old out of the Test in Melbourne, which starts on Boxing Day, but England were expecting Vaughan to be fully fit by now.

While playing in a four-day game organised for the England Test players omitted from the one-day squad, Vaughan, who was left out of the pre-Christmas round of one-day series matches so he could spend time strengthening his knee, found himself still struggling to throw and incapable of bowling.

During the match against the National Academy XI at a local club ground, which England won by four wickets, most of the players, except Vaughan who scored nine and 22, had a good work-out. John Crawley made 55 and Mark Butcher 96 not out to win the match, but it was the bowling of Matthew Hoggard and Alex Tudor which impressed. Between them they took 13 wickets on an excellent pitch produced by South Perth Cricket Club.

Another plus was that Nottinghamshire's Chris Read, who played for the Academy, pushed his case for England selection by scoring 91 and 34.

Blackwell's visit to hospital was courtesy of Stephen Harmison. The Durham fast-bowler is making a habit of hitting English left-arm spinners in the nets. At a practice session before the Adelaide Test, Harmison broke the left wrist of Ashley Giles with a short ball and yesterday he was at it again when he rapped Blackwell on the gloves.

Following a quick consultation with the England physiotherapist, Dean Conway, the Somerset all-rounder left the nets area in discomfort and was sent for a precautionary X-ray on the index finger of his left hand. Thankfully, for England and Harmison, who was upset following the Giles incident, there was no break suffered by Blackwell.

Blackwell's fitness was to be assessed this morning before the one-day international against Sri Lanka, with Adam Hollioake, brought into the squad as a replacement for Andrew Flintoff but yet to feature in the tournament, standing by as a replacement.

Some people may question the sense in England's most hostile fast bowler bowling flat out in the nets at his team-mates, but this policy has to be maintained. For practice to be productive, it needs to be performed at the same intensity as in a match. This is how the Australian bowlers bowl during their sessions and injuries like this are bound to occur.