Flintoff focused on England return

_{Andrew Flintoff told the press he'll do all he can to get fit and playing for England}

Andrew Flintoff today insisted his primary concern is to get fit for England’s one-day series against West Indies as he prepared to return home from the Caribbean.

The all-rounder was due to fly out of Barbados tonight to recuperate from his hip injury in familiar surroundings, with a view to returning on March 10.

Flintoff, 31, will continue his rehabilitation under the supervision of his own fitness guru Dave Roberts, with England’s chief medical officer Nick Peirce overseeing the process from Loughborough.

Upon the conclusion of the Test series, England are scheduled to play a Twenty20 match on March 15 and five one-day internationals beginning on March 20.

Following the last ODI on April 3, Flintoff is due to begin a three-week Indian Premier League stint with Chennai Super Kings.

“I put myself in the IPL knowing the schedule,” Flintoff said.

“Everyone is going on about the IPL - it’s a hot topic at the moment - but all I am looking at is playing for England in this one-day series.

“The IPL is a few weeks away, my goal is to play in this one-day series and then the IPL will take care of itself.

“It is something I want to go to but playing for England is the ultimate and that’s what I want to do.”

He explained: “I know what I need to do to get fit.

“It’s harder being around the Test matches. You are desperate to play; you are a bit flat because of it.

“You don’t know where to put yourself in the dressing room, everyone you bump into is asking, ‘When will you be back?’.

“I just want to get on with the work and get back as soon as I can.”

Flintoff first felt discomfort in his right hip during the first Test in Jamaica and it was only after the problem flared in the third Test in Antigua last week that he was sent for a scan which revealed a grade two muscle tear.

Flintoff strained every sinew for England on the final day of the drawn third Test match in Antigua

Recalling the worsening problem at the Antigua Recreation Ground, Flintoff said: “It is the first time in a long time when I came in from batting in the second innings that I threw my bat at the wall and that type of thing.

“It’s desperately frustrating with one thing after another but there’s not much I can do except get fit and come back and I am confident of doing that.

“I am more confident about playing in the one-dayers now than I was last week.

“The nature of the injury meant it had to settle down, I have had a few days’ rest, and the past two days I have done some gentle exercises.

“It has reacted really well so I am confident of coming back.”

England’s tour management last night sanctioned the temporary departure from the tour.

Between the 2005 Ashes, in which he was man of the series, and the current match at Kensington Oval, Flintoff had missed half of England’s 42 completed Tests through injury.

That statistic alone has increased his determination to spend time in the middle.

“There’s a lot of cricket before the Ashes - everyone keeps mentioning that - but that is at the back end of the summer,” he said.

“There are Tests against the West Indies [in England] and the Twenty20 World Cup before then.

“I have missed a lot of cricket in recent years; I want to play as much as I can.

“Don’t get me wrong - I want to play in the Ashes. Having experienced the euphoria of it before. it is something I desperately want to play in, so I am not going to jeopardise that by doing anything I don’t feel I can do.”