ANDY Flower revealed he had already selected a likely England team for the first Ashes Test – but insisted those not in it had plenty of time to change his mind.

There is still a month to go until England take to the field in Brisbane to begin their defence of the urn won last summer, but team director Flower has already turned his attention to the opening match of the series.

However, with three warmup games to play prior to the November 25 curtain-raiser, Flower refused to rule out the prospect of people breaking into, or dropping out of, the side he had pencilled in.

‘‘We are fairly clear with what we want,’’ said Flower, who will rotate his squad during the warm-up period but admitted he could not promise everyone a game.

‘‘There is still flexibility for decisions based on confidence, form or any variety of conditions we’ll come across.’’ If that was a message designed to keep his players on their toes, England fans will be hoping it resonates most with Kevin Pietersen.

The country’s star batsman is in the midst of arguably the biggest dip of his career, having failed to score a Test century since March 2009.

He was also forced to apologise for an expletive-laden rant on Twitter upon being dropped from the one-day side, while his recent attempt to rediscover his form ahead of the Ashes appeared to fall flat when he made 36 and a second-ball duck in his two first-class innings for South African side Kwazulu Natal Dolphins.

Yet, Flower was unconcerned about the 30-year-old’s travails.

He said: ‘‘He’s very well; he enjoyed his trip to South Africa and he’s in a very good state of mind ready for the tour.

‘‘He didn’t get many opportunities (for Natal). Unfortunately, the way the games panned out, he only got one innings in each game.

‘‘But he did some really good work with the Natal side and I think it would’ve stood him in good stead.

‘‘He feels good about his cricket; he feels confident going into Australia.’’ As well as a fit and firing Pietersen, England will need James Anderson at 100per cent to give themselves the best possible chance of retaining the urn.

Seamer Anderson cracked a rib during the side’s recent training camp in Germany but is already bowling again, and could even be involved in two of the three warm-up games Down Under.

‘‘He’s already bowling at 75per cent, so he should be fine for the first Test,’’ Flower said.

‘‘More than likely, he’ll be okay for two of those warm-up games.’’ Anderson was injured during England’s training camp in Bavaria this month while boxing against an unnamed teammate – reportedly Chris Tremlett.

Despite the setback, Flower had no regrets over the controversial camp, saying: ‘‘It’s was an excellent camp, actually, and I think the players and management that were involved in it did things that they might never have done before in their lives and might never do again, and it was a very healthy experience.’’ Flower has also learnt from the experience of predecessor Duncan Fletcher, whose England side’s lack of meaningful warm-up games was heavily criticised during the 5-0 whitewash Down Under four years ago.

‘‘I think those three firstclass games we play are going to be very important for our preparation,’’ said Flower, speaking on the day the England and Wales Cricket Board announced 33,000 coaches had graduated from the Sky Sports ECB Coach Education Programme since its 2006 launch.

‘‘The Brisbane test historically is important as a tonesetter for series in Australia.

‘‘The three first-class games are important for our batsmen to get into form, our bowlers to do enough work that they are ready to attack from ball one in Brisbane and to get up to speed with Australian conditions, the heat, the pitches, the different ball.

‘‘In all sorts of ways, they are very important.’’ England will head to Australia above their arch-rivals in the Test rankings following the latter’s recent series defeat in India.

But Flower questioned whether that made his side favourites, saying: I’m not sure that is the case.

‘‘I think they are fairly evenly- matched sides.

‘‘We’re playing Australia in Australia, where they’ve got a very good record.

‘‘We respect the opposition, but we don’t fear them.’’

■ Brad Haddin and Peter Siddle have been drafted into Australia’s squad for Sunday’s Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka in Perth after injury.

Siddle has been sidelined with a back injury since February but returns to the 12- man squad, while Haddin’s return from an elbow problem means Tim Paine drops out, with Mike Hussey and Mitchell Johnson rested with the forthcoming Ashes series in mind.

Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of the national selectors panel, said: ‘‘It’s exciting to see the return of Peter Siddle and Brad Haddin into international cricket as part of this squad."