No rush for Flintoff - Fletcher

England coach Duncan Fletcher insists Andrew Flintoff will not be rushed back to bowling in the ICC Champions Trophy as the forthcoming Ashes series remains the team's priority.

Fletcher admits it is imperative Flintoff is "ready to bowl flat-out" in the opening Test in Brisbane as he prepares his side to face India in the opening Trophy match in Jaipur on Sunday.

"I don't think he'll be bowling pretty soon. It's difficult to say when he will bowl," said Fletcher. "It's very, very important that he's ready to bowl flat-out in Brisbane. We've got two warm-up games there but we'll just have to monitor it as the tour progresses."

Speculation suggests Flintoff could be deployed as an opening batsman during the tournament but Fletcher claims a final decision has yet to be made.

"I don't know, we'll sit down, we've had some discussions about the line-up we want," he told Sky Sports News. "We've had a chat to Andrew about what side we're going to go with and later on we'll have a meeting to settle on that."

"Everyone seems to be enjoying it. Everyone has got stuck in and shown a lot of enthusiasm which is pleasing to see. The short break has helped most of them and Andrew's been out for some time and is raring to go.

"The thing we have to be careful about is not to try to bring him back bowling too soon.

"How we make that decision is going to be difficult because I'm sure he wants to get in there and bowl but we came out here with him to bat.

"His main objective is to come out here and get some batting and lead the side."