Flintoff set to miss ODI series

Andrew Flintoff's side strain is likely to force him out of England's one-day series against New Zealand next month.

England are due to announce their one-day squad on Friday for the Twenty20 International and five ODIs, and had hoped Flintoff would have recovered in time.

But, speaking at the launch of Lancashire's Twenty20 Cup campaign, Flintoff admitted he is still recovering.

"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," Flintoff told PA.

"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." Flintoff had been expected to be included in England's Test series against New Zealand, after a promising start to the season with the ball for Lancashire.

But he picked up a side strain while bowling for his county, ruling him out of what would have been his first Test since January 2007.

He could, however, return for the South Africa series and the first Test at Lord's on July 11.

"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."