The strain of back-to-back Tests has taken its toll on England captain Andrew Flintoff, who experienced a flare-up of ankle soreness.

Flintoff sent an injury scare through the England camp when he came off the Adelaide Oval to rest his left ankle, the joint on which he underwent mid-year surgery.

England remains hopeful its star allrounder could still bowl on Tuesday on the final day of the second Test, but acknowledged he was feeling the effects of bowling 61 overs in two Tests over 12 days.

Flintoff bowled only four overs on Monday - all in the first session - and then left the ground later in the day to have "discomfort" monitored by team medical staff.

England coach Duncan Fletcher said it was a precaution and he could have returned to bowl late in Australia's innings of 513.

"He just felt some slight discomfort there and he just wanted to make sure everything was all right and he came off," Fletcher said.

"He just felt more comfortable with the other bowlers bowling."

Flintoff was his side's best bowler in the first Test in Brisbane, where he took match figures of 4-110 from 35 overs and took 1-82 from 26 overs in Australia's first innings in Adelaide.

Fletcher said Flintoff had experienced the discomfort after returning from a long time out of the game, similar to the soreness spinner Ashley Giles endured after spending a year out of Test cricket because of a hip problem.

"It's a slight discomfort like Ashley Giles has to some degree coming back from injury," Fletcher said.

"The medical people say having been off for so long you're going to have these slight discomforts and it's best just to take some precautionary action.

"He's played back-to-back Tests, Andrew, he's done quite a bit of bowling and it's just having played a lot of cricket.

"There's no worries at the moment. We're just going to have to wait and see how it is the next couple of days.

"But from the advice we've been given, we're not even going to send him for a scan at this stage.

"It's just having over-bowled in back-to-back Tests."

Flintoff will get the chance for further rest in Perth, as the third Test does not start until December 14.

England plays two tour matches before the third Test, one a one-day match against a Cricket Australia XI and the other a two-day game against Western Australia.

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