Swann Out of Test Series

There was shock around the England Cricket Team as they waited to start play in Dunedin, when news came out that Graeme Swann is to have surgery on the troublesome elbow injury which ruled him out of the first test with New Zealand....

It means Swann has been pulled out of the touring squad in New Zealand, and will head to the USA to have fragments of bone removed from the elbow, which threatens his part in the back to back Ashes series later this year.

Swann first had the elbow operated on during 2009, but it was revealed that some fragments couldn't be removed due to being too close to the nerve.

And it was just two days ago that Swann revealed that he had been hit again with the same problems that forced him to have the initial operation.

He was forced to pull out of the first test in Dunedin, and will be replaced in the squad by James Tredwell. Monty Panesar is playing in the opening test match, after receiving a call up on the morning of the match.

An ECB statement read: "Swann will travel to the United States next week to have an operation and will then undergo a period of rehabilitation allowing an anticipated return to competitive cricket in the early summer."