Flintoff quits Test cricket

England's most famous cricketer, Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff, is to retire from Test cricket at the end of this summer's Ashes series. The all-rounder, currently struggling for fitness ahead of the second Test against Australia at Lord's this week, confirmed that he was calling time on his England career after admitting that injuries had got the better of him.
 
However, the Lancashire player's decision could bring financial rewards. Flintoff will continue to play one-day and Twenty20 cricket and by quitting the Test scene will be free to join the lucrative Indian Premier League next spring.
 
Furthermore, by concentrating on the shorter and more financially beneficial formats of the game. he is likely to be able to play for longer - meaning more paydays.
 
Despite his burly physique, Flintoff's fitness has been an issue throughout his 11-year England career. "My body has told me it's time to stop," he said. "I've been through four ankle operations, I had knee surgery just a couple of months ago and had three jabs in my knee on Monday just to get me right for this Test so I took that as my body telling me that I can't cope with the rigours of Test cricket."
 
His decision to call it quits after the Ashes is fitting as it is against Australia that he has experienced his greatest highs and lows. In 2005 he was inspirational as England won the urn for the first time since the 1980s - and was hailed for the spirit in which he played the game. A year later he had a hellish series when, as captain in the absence of Michael Vaughan, he oversaw a humiliating 5-0 whitewash in Australia.
 
Often seen as a modern-day equivalent to Ian Botham, Flintoff's 75 Test career has featured a similar amount of controversy thanks to his hard-partying lifestyle.
 
In 2007 he was stripped of the Test vice-captaincy following a drunken late-night escapade on a pedalo in the Caribbean. Only last month he was disciplined in the run-up to the Ashes after missing a team-building trip to Ypres after a night out. The lack of Flintoff magic, with bat or ball, during the first Test in Cardiff last week prompted Mike Atherton, a former England captain and now TV commentator, to say: "There is now a general realisation that the talismanic all-rounder of four years ago is not as central to England's success as before."

But Flintoff remains one of the most popular men in the England dressing-room and his team-mates will be determined to bid him farewell with a series victory. ·