England were sure to finally find out some time today what part, if any, injured captain Michael Vaughan has to play in their tour of Pakistan.
Vaughan, present yesterday to watch his team slide to a six-wicket defeat against Pakistan A at Bagh-e-Jinnah, has already been waiting almost two days for the results of scans after retiring hurt with a twisted knee in the second tour match and final warm-up fixture before this week's first Test in Multan.
Yesterday, despite a humbling setback for England's Ashes heroes - completed with more than a session to spare - coach Duncan Fletcher was rightly still most concerned with Vaughan's well-being.
Vaughan will fly with the rest of the squad to Multan this morning where his injury will be assessed on arrival.
England doctor Peter Gregory confirmed on Monday Vaughan's chances of being fit in time for Saturday were already slim, and if the scans reveal he has torn cartilage it is almost certain he would need an operation and therefore miss the remainder of this tour.
England have already been considering which player they could bring in as a replacement for Vaughan should he miss the first Test or even the whole three-match series.
"Michael and I discussed that and have put one phone call in. Those discussions will continue over the next 24 hours as well," said Fletcher.
That one phone call garnered the fact that Owais Shah is unavailable after a knee operation of his own.
Robert Key might also have fit the bill but is just about to have an operation.
Vaughan's diagnosis and prognosis is complicated by previous problems of a similar nature in the same knee.
Fletcher also had to contend with those problems on the pitch yesterday as England were brushed aside by the hosts, for whom captain Hasan Raza hit an unbeaten 71 and shared a century stand with Shahid Yousuf (57) - putting himself in the frame to resume his Test career in Multan - as they knocked off 245 with ease.
England's coach conceded his team could have done without such a chastening experience - but drew comparisons with a similar tour match defeat at Potchefstroom last year, before his team's Test series victory in South Africa.
"It is similar to what happened in South Africa. We were beaten by South Africa A and went on and played some very good cricket and won the five-match series."
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