Flintoff targets Ashes comeback

The Lancashire star led a disastrous tour Down Under in 2006/7 when England suffered a 5-0 whitewash and injury has restricted his international appearances in the subsequent period, but he made a successful return from ankle surgery in the summer's series against South Africa.

"As emotional as winning the Ashes was, the emotions of being thrashed were much stronger," Flintoff said. "I've never been a goal-setter, I'm a sports psychologist's nightmare to be honest, but I really want to make up for that next summer."

He added: "Not that I can look too far ahead. We've got a big one-day series in India coming up and that will be a true test of where we are as a one-day team.

"We can't afford for South Africa to be a false dawn."

Flintoff has also revealed he feared for his career having struggled with a persistent ankle injury which required a fourth operation, conducted by Dutch specialist Niek van Dijk in September last year.

"It was the fourth operation and I knew deep down that it had to be the last," Flintoff told the Daily Mail.

"If this didn't work then it was difficult to know where I could have gone after that.

"There had been so much rehabilitation, so much fitness work, so many cans of Red Bull to give me energy, but until then nothing had really worked. But this guy found a piece of bone that had become embedded in my ankle and simply removed it.

"Niek was confident I could get back after that but me and Dave Roberts (personal trainer and physio) were not 100% convinced."