England Head to Lords as Andrew Flintoff Retires from Test Cricket

By Robin Scott; published on July 16, 2009 at 9:53 am

The recurrence of the knee injury that has plagued Andrew Flintoff’s career has led the former England cricket captain to announce his retirement from test cricket, in order to concentrate on the one day game. The current Ashes test series will be Flintoff’s last for England.

Though many will lament the loss of one of England’s only genuine all rounders of recent years, Flintoff is likely to prolong his one-day career as a result of the move.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting heralded Flintoff as one of England’s finest bowlers, but pointed to their over-reliance on Flintoff as one of the main contributing factors to his knee problems:

“He’s a big boy and injuries are part and parcel of sport, but there are other fast bowlers around the world who are running in and keep playing and doing well in Test matches.

I think it’s more about Freddie Flintoff’s body than the rigours of international cricket. To be honest it’s the amount of bowling he does for England.”

Once the Ashes – for which Flintoff has promised to “do everything I need to do to get on a cricket field” – has drawn to a close, the curtain will come down on Flintoff’s 76 match test career, the highlight of which was his linchpin role in the 2005 Ashes victory.

England and Australia will contest the second match of The Ashes 2009 from today at Lords, London, UK. Andrew Flintoff is expected to be fit for the game, despite his knee worries.

Posted by Robin Scott on July 16, 2009. Filed under Cricket,Picture Gallery,Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

News Tags: Andrew Flintoff, Australia, England, Ricky Ponting, The Ashes.

About Robin Scott

Robin Scott co-founded The Global Herald, and is acting Sports Editor.

Website: http://theglobalherald.com/