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REUTERS, LONDON - All-rounder Andy Flintoff would have been selected in the squad for the first test against New Zealand if he had not suffered yet another injury setback, England coach Peter Moores said on Tuesday.
Flintoff, 30, played only one test last year because of his troubled left ankle which eventually required a fourth operation.
He has bowled with high pace and hostility for Lancashire this year but has now been sidelined by a side strain.
"He would have been in the squad if he had been fit," Moores told a news conference at Lord's where England will host New Zealand from Thursday in the first of a three-match series.
"It would have given us a chance to assess him first hand. The decision whether he was fit to play in the test match was a decision we would have had to make but we would have included him in the squad."
Moores said Flintoff could have been part of a four-man attack, supplemented by Paul Collingwood's medium pace.
New Zealand upset England in the first of a three-test series at home this year, prompting the selectors to drop their two senior pace bowlers Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard in favour of Stuart Broad and James Anderson.
Both played significant roles in England's recovery to win the series 2-0 and, although Hoggard has been included in a 12-man squad for Lord's, there is as yet no way back for Harmison.
Moores indicated that, even taking into consideration Flintoff's current lack of form with the bat, the pace at which he bowls would make him an automatic selection when he returns to full fitness.
RARE BREED
"Everyone likes bowlers who bowl at 90 miles (145 kms) an hour," he said. "They're a rare breed. Fred (Flintoff) has got the advantage that not only does he bowl very quick, he bowls accurately as well, natural pace and natural length.
"It's nice to have because I don't know anyone who likes facing 90 miles an hour balls."
Chris Martin, the leader of New Zealand's pace attack, said the Kiwis had let the home series against England slip away.
"We competed well for probably 85, 90 percent of the time but when we did falter we faltered badly," he told a news conference."
Martin also said the New Zealand bowlers were determined to atone for their disappointing displays in England four years ago, when a confident Kiwi side with a good batting lineup were decisively beaten 3-0.
"As a bowling outfit we were very poor," he said. "We didn't really bowl that well and as a group we let ourselves down."
Martin, who played in the 2004 series and has subsequently increased his pace and accuracy to become his country's first choice new ball bowler, said he had become more professional in his approach.
"A bit stronger, fitter and healthier," he said. "Getting older and wiser as well."
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