Kevin Pietersen advised to 'look after himself'

"From experience, and talking to guys who have played at that age, everything seems to hurt a little bit more after long days in the field and after big innings."

Pietersen described himself as "an old man" after his hundred in Manchester, having been passed fit for the match at the last minute after a calf strain, and has missed three out of eight Tests this year because of injury.

Flower added: "The players that play all three forms of the game, we do try to look after in as wise a way as possible.

"Kevin's one of those guys, and in his early thirties, so we do take him out of certain competitions when it's necessary - just like we do with Jimmy Anderson, and might do with Alastair Cook in the future."

Flower's England have a default setting of refusing, generally, to look quite so far ahead as that - and the coach was predictably in that mode as he steadfastly considered only the next Test, starting at Chester-le-Street on Friday.

There was a hint, but no more, of the possibility of a rest for one of England's three pace-bowling incumbents - so hard worked in Australia's first innings at Emirates Old Trafford.

Chris Tremlett and Graham Onions have been included in a squad of 13, and Flower said: "We're totally focused on winning this series, and they are in the squad for a reason and available to play.

"We are quite willing to be flexible on that front."

Onions' return on his home ground would be no knee-jerk reaction to his nine wickets for Durham against Middlesex.

"It's not a change of plan," Flower said.

"We thought Tremlett's type of bowling was more useful at Old Trafford, and he was the spare bowler if anyone had gone down on the morning of the game.

"Up at Durham might be slightly different, and Onions has been in good form all summer."