**England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has announced he will retire from Test cricket at the end of the current Ashes series against Australia.**The hero of England’s victorious 2005 Ashes campaign has fought a constant battle against injuries and will now concentrate on one-day cricket.
The 31-year-old is currently fighting to be fit for the second Test at Lord’s because of a knee problem.
Flintoff said: “My body has told me it’s time to stop.”
The latest knee injury flared up after the drawn first Test against Australia in Cardiff and Flintoff explained: “It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a while and I think this last problem I’ve had with my knee has confirmed to me that the time is now right.”
Flintoff has so far played for his country 75 times in an 11-year Test career since his debut against South Africa in a famous England victory at Trent Bridge.
But undoubtedly his finest hours came during the 2-1 series success at home to Australia in 2005, a summer which saw Flintoff hailed for his cricketing ability as well as his sportsmanship.
After a duck and then three in the first Test at Lord’s, he made half-centuries in each innings and took seven wickets as England fought back thrillingly to win by just two runs and level the score at Edgbaston - where his hand-on-shoulder consolation for a beaten Brett Lee became perhaps the iconic image of the whole series.
Flintoff’s maiden Ashes hundred helped bring a second home win in Nottingham, and there were more runs and wickets as England regained the urn in a fifth-Test draw at The Oval.
With 2005 captain Michael Vaughan out injured, Flintoff himself was to lead England in their ill-starred bid to retain the Ashes in 2006-07, a series that ended in a 5-0 whitewash.
He lost the vice-captaincy under Vaughan after his drunken late-night escapade in a pedalo at the start of a notably unsuccessful 2007 World Cup campaign in the Caribbean.