Captain Nasser Hussain last night tried to stall speculation about a rethink over Flintoff.
"All I'm doing at the moment is talking about this one-day series," said Hussain in the immediate aftermath of England's stunning five-wicket win.
"That's the problem with the English game. Freddie gets 80 in one game and suddenly he's got to come out here and bat No 3 in the Test series, bowl and take 57 catches, or something like that.
"All Fred has done is played well and won us a one-day international. Everyone must keep their feet on the ground. It was only a few months ago that he was getting a bad press.
"Let's keep calm and make sure that the next time Fred goes out to bat he tries to do the same thing again in exactly the same way."
Hussain's plea - delivered with man-of-the-match Flintoff sat beside him - was perfectly understandable.
But if England's big Lancastrian produces another masterly innings in either of the two remaining one-dayers - in Lahore on Friday and at Rawalpindi next Monday - then the selectors would be silly not to discuss asking Lord's to increase their Test tour party from 16 to 17.
Last night's effort, which won Flintoff a small car and huge praise from friend and foe alike, even stood out in a match full of stylish batting.
He never once slogged, generally kept the ball on the ground, except when launching three huge sixes into the crowd, and stirred memories of his breathtaking 135 for Lancashire against Surrey in last season's NatWest Trophy quarter-final.
Abdur Razzaq's ferocious knock of 75 had powered Pakistan to an apparently unreachable total of 304 for nine. But then England, stirred rather than shaken by the early departures of Alec Stewart and Marcus Trescothick, rose to the challenge in a manner which rightly left Hussain brimming with pride.
The captain - who didn't know where his next run was coming from only a couple of months ago - was first past 50 before Graeme Hick, Flintoff and finally Graham Thorpe reached the same milestone. All four of them played their natural games to perfection and their poise under pressure left Pakistan shell-shocked.
"England batted extraordinarily well and Flintoff's innings was one of the best I've seen," said home captain Moin Khan.
It was impossible to disagree with him in any detail.
