LONDON, (Reuters) – England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will retire from test cricket after the Ashes series against Australia because his battered body can no longer cope with the demands of five-day matches.
“My body is telling me things and I’m starting to listen,” Flintoff told a news conference at Lord’s yesterday. “I’ve missed two years out of the past four so my career has been curtailed by injury.”
Flintoff, 31, has missed 25 of England’s last 48 matches after four operations on his left ankle as well as shoulder, hip and knee injuries.
He suffered pain and swelling of his right knee after the drawn first test in Cardiff on Sunday following an operation to repair a torn meniscus this year but is optimistic that he will be fit for the second test starting day.
Flintoff said he now planned to concentrate on one-day cricket.
“There’s a (50 overs) World Cup in 2011,” he said. “I’d like to play in the one after that as well because I think there’s a lot of cricket left in me.
“I’m giving up test cricket, I’m not giving up cricket. I enjoy the shorter form of the game and I want to be the best I can.”
DRAMATIC IMPACT
After an indifferent start to his test career, Flintoff began to train properly and blossomed into a true test all-rounder when Michael Vaughan took over as captain in 2003. Under Vaughan he was the leading England player in the memorable 2005 Ashes series, scoring 402 runs at 40.20 and taking 24 wickets at 27.29. He was a sure catcher at slip and his whole-hearted fast bowling and clean hitting made him a folk hero in England.
However, his form steadily declined after 2006. He has not scored a century or taken five wickets in an innings in test cricket since and his overall test record of 31.69 with the bat and 32.51 does not reflect his talent or the impact he made at his peak.
“He’s had a dramatic impact on English cricket over the last few years, the way he’s batted, the style in which he’s batted. For a long period he’s been probably one of the bowlers in world cricket that opposition batsmen least like facing,” England captain Andrew Strauss said yesterday.
“Maybe pure figures don’t show that. Also as a personality I think he’s done a huge amount for the game of cricket, the way he’s always played with a smile on his face.