LONDON (AP):

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is trying to maintain his fitness for the rest of the Ashes series by sleeping with his knee connected to a machine based on NASA spacesuit technology.

The 31-year-old Flintoff has been wearing a Game Ready wrap around his injured right knee in a bid to ease the discomfort he experienced before, during and after the second Test victory over Australia at Lord's last week.

The contraption simultaneously supplies intermittent compression and ice treatment on the inflamed area while the person is in bed.

"I've been in the gym ... and after every session I've been icing it," Flintoff said Tuesday. "I have this machine that I put on (the knee) every night.

"It gets in the way a little bit. It wraps around my knee and it compresses it, half an hour on, half an hour off, throughout the night."

Flintoff claimed a five-wicket haul that helped England beat Australia by 115 runs in the second test to take a 1-0 lead in the series with three matches remaining.

Full capacity

Flintoff bowled at close to full capacity Tuesday for around 10 minutes in the middle at Edgbaston - two days before the third match begins.

Meanwhile, Australia captain Ricky Ponting is preparing to overtake Allan Border and become Australia's record scorer in cricket.

The 34-year-old Ponting has amassed 11,150 runs at an average of 56.31 per innings and needs only 25 more to surpass Border.

"Ricky is an amazing player, an amazing leader, someone we all look up to. If anyone deserves to overtake Allan Border, it will be Ricky Ponting," vice captain Michael Clarke said. "He has been a fantastic player for such a long time in all forms of the game, Test and one-day, and in all conditions around the world.

"For me that is a sign of a great player, having longevity in the game and to score runs or take wickets in all different conditions. The greats have done that and I definitely see Ricky as one of the greatest players who have ever played this game of cricket."

Key role

Ponting will have a key role to play if Australia are to claw back the 1-0 deficit from the second Test at Lord's.

Clarke said his side will be looking to exploit the absence from the England batting line-up of Kevin Pietersen after he was ruled out for the rest of the series after Achilles surgery. He has been replaced by Ian Bell who has only averaged 25 against Australia in previous Tests.

"Anytime a very good player is not playing, like Kevin Pietersen, it gives the team a boost but Ian is a very good player himself," Clarke said.

"It is very important we concentrate on Ian now and make sure we are up to speed on the way he plays and we forget about Kevin for a little while."