Coach Andy Flower is confident of a boost in England's batting line-up with the return of Kevin Pietersen for the tour of South Africa in November, but has raised doubts over the comeback of Andrew Flintoff into the national team.
The 29-year-old Pietersen, who played only the first two Ashes Tests, is nursing an achilles injury after he developed an infection in the scar tissue post surgery.
"He (Pietersen) is still struggling a little with that wound in his achilles. I spoke to him yesterday but I think we are confident in saying he will be back for South Africa," Flower said.
"It is enforced time away and he didn't want it and we didn't want it, but since it's there and there is nothing anyone can do about it, I think he has got to make the most of it. He is spending time with his family and his wife and getting a break from the international game," Flower was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
Flintoff, who retired from Test cricket with the Ashes win, is recuperating after a knee surgery and said that he may never play cricket again.
"If he (Flintoff) can come back and play one-day international and Twenty20 cricket for us and bat at six or seven and bowl like he can bowl, that will make us a force to be reckoned with in one-day cricket," Flower said.
"But whether he will or not I don't know, I just hope he does," he added.
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