Justin Langer reckons England can forget about regaining the Ashes if they believe they can beat Australia without Andrew Flintoff.

The opening batsman retired from international cricket in January 2007, but the barrage he and his fellow Aussies suffered from Flintoff during England's 2005 triumph is still fresh in his memory.

Flintoff is still recovering from knee surgery on a torn meniscus which he suffered while playing for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League last month. The 31-year-old faces a race against time to be fully fit for the First Test, which starts on 8 July.

The success of England's new-ball pairing, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, against West Indies has strengthened the belief that Andrew Strauss's men can live without Flintoff - but Langer disagrees.

He said: "If Fred is fit, you have to play him. He could even bat at eight and be one of the top-line bowlers. He is one of the top three bowlers in world cricket, and one of the best I have faced. Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen are the only great players England have in their team. Flintoff simply has to be there for the Ashes."

England are also toying with the idea of using spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar against the Aussies, but Langer insisted: "It would be a huge mistake for England to try to spin Australia out of the Ashes series."

Australia's big hope for the Ashes, batsman Phillip Hughes, scored his first one-day century at Lord's after weighing in with huge scores in the County Championship.

And although it helped Middlesex to their highest score in Friends Provident Trophy history, he could not stop them losing to Group B winners Somerset.

The opener, who plays his final match for the county tomorrow against Warwickshire, is returning home on Wednesday - earlier than originally scheduled.

Middlesex coach Toby Radford said: "Phillip is going back in order to attend a pre-Ashes camp. We have known about this for three weeks."

Prior to yesterday's 119, Hughes had scored only 58 runs in five Trophy ties since his 74 on competition debut against Scotland. The left-hander's efforts were not enough to prevent Somerset maintaining their unbeaten record in the competition. Langer hit an unbeaten 78 as Somerset reached a revised target of 290 from 41 overs with 11 deliveries to spare to dent Middlesex's hopes of qualifying.