Injury looks likely to keep Flintoff out of one-day series against New Zealand

National selector Geoff Miller is due to announce the one-day squad on Friday, ahead of one Twenty20 international and five one-day internationals against the tourists starting at Old Trafford on June 13.

They were hoping to pencil 30-year-old Flintoff into their plans having been forced to rule him out of the Test series against New Zealand when he suffered a side strain bowling against Durham on May 9.

Fit but injured: Andrew Flintoff returned from his long-term injury this season but a sidestrain means he'll miss England's matches against New Zealand

But Flintoff, speaking at the launch of Lancashire's Twenty20 campaign at the Chill Factor in Manchester, insisted today that he was only halfway through a six-week recovery programme which would effectively rule him out of the one-day series.

"I've not got a fixed date yet on when I can play and I think I'll know more once I start doing more running and then get back into the cricket again," said Flintoff.

"These things have a history of taking six weeks and it will be three weeks on Thursday since I did it.

"I don't know the exact dates of the one-day series but I've still got a few weeks before I'm fit so I'm not sure what the chances are of me being fit for that. I saw Geoff Miller and Peter Moores last week and they're not going to rush me back."

If Flintoff's recovery takes six weeks, his next available competitive cricket would be the final few matches of Lancashire's Twenty20 Cup qualifying group.

He would also be able to feature in the championship match against Sussex at Hove before the opening Test against South Africa at Lord's starting on July 11, which could be his first Test appearance for 18 months.

"I'd love to be involved against South Africa, but I think I learned my lesson from last time, building up and trying to play against New Zealand and it didn't happen," he said.

"I'm going to see how it goes. I'd love to play against South Africa obviously, but I'm not going to build it up too much because I don't want to get disappointed again."

That means more frustration for Flintoff, who admitted to feeling a twinge of “jealousy” as he watched England during their back from the dead victory over New Zealand at Old Trafford.

“I had lunch in one of the executive boxes,” he said. “I wasn’t enjoying it to be honest. We were playing a Test on my home ground and I wasn’t involved.

“Probably for the first time there was a bit of jealousy because I desperately wanted to be out there and playing.

“I went into the dressing room but you are always wary of over-staying. They’ve got a job to do and they don’t want people hanging around. I had five or 10 minutes in there and then popped out.

“It has been a struggle this past week so I haven’t seen a great deal of the Test but I’ve got a lot on at home and I’m also trying to get fit.”