Posts Tagged ‘Flintoff’

LONDON: Andrew Flintoff is hardheaded to suit humankind cricket’s elementary ad hoc player in the manner of rejecting the offer of a contract with the England state team.

The England and Wales Cricket Board carry on week unfilled Flintoff a second-tier incremental contract following his retirement from test matches, but the 31-year-old allrounder has bowed it down in give preferentiality to of nomadic the humankind to take the part of in favor of unusual teams on short-term deals.

The array will allow Flintoff, who is recovering from knee surgery in Dubai, to decide which England matches he is to be had in favor of.

“I was flattered to receive the offer of an incremental contract from the ECB, which I wasn’t really expecting, but by the side of this stage of my career I don’t think I need to be told whilst to take the part of and whilst to recreation,” Flintoff thought. “I take part in played international cricket in favor of 11 years and know my body’s capabilities.”

Whether England picks him is one more question since the ECB possibly will be irked by could you repeat that? May well be seen as a decision motivated by economic considerations.

His agent told a state newspaper by the side of the weekend with the aim of Flintoff intended to take the part of in favor of as many as six teams on five continents subsequently time, counting Twenty20 in the lucrative Indian Premier League.

“I am thankful to the ECB in favor of the all the economic support they take part in specified me to help in my rehabilitation,” Flintoff thought. “I take part in stirred to Dubai for the reason that I believe it will help in with the aim of.”

Flintoff announced in the manner of laboring through England’s elementary Ashes test in opposition to Australia with the aim of he was quitting test cricket.

He played in three of the outstanding four tests to bow unfashionable with a part in the two wins and inducement with the aim of regained the urn.

Flintoff thought with the aim of he still wants to take the part of one-day and Twenty20 matches in favor of England.

“I thought whilst I retired from test cricket with the aim of my motivation was to suit the superlative one-day and Twenty20 player in the humankind and in performance in all these unusual countries can lone help,” Flintoff thought.

London: England regained the Ashes after beating Australia by 197 runs on the fourth day of the final Test at The Oval on Sunday. Michael Hussey’s hundred proved in vain as Australia were bowled out for 348 in the last session.

England repeated their 2005 triumph by bringing down the number one Test team 2-1 in the five-Test series.

Andrew Flintoff marked his final Test before retirement with the dismissal of Australia captain Ricky Ponting as England pressed for an Ashes-clinching victory with two run-outs here at the Oval.

Australia, at tea on the fourth day of the fifth and final Test, were 265 for five – still needing a further 281 runs to reach their record victory target of 546.

Michael Hussey was 77 not out and Brad Haddin 10 not out in a match where a win for either side would give them the series 2-1.

Ponting, one of cricket’s greatest batsmen, and Hussey, out for nought in the first innings, had frustrated England with a third-wicket stand of 127 that raised hopes of an improbable victory.

But Flintoff then struck in unlikely fashion. Hussey called Ponting for a single off Stephen Harmison but Flintoff, running round from mid-on, threw down the stumps at the striker’s end and Ponting was short of his ground by a foot.

Ponting, in what could be his final Ashes Test in England, had to go for 66, having stroked 10 stylish fours in his 103-ball stay after he and left-hander Hussey had revived Australia from the depths of 90 for two.

Five balls later, England were celebrating another, more unlikely, run-out. Michael Clarke, Australia’s leading batsman this series, clipped a ball from off-spinner Graeme Swann that deflected off the boot of Alastair Cook at short leg to England captain Andrew Strauss at leg-slip, who hit the stumps with a sharp under-arm throw.

This was a much tighter call for third umpire Peter Hartley but he eventually ruled the bail was in the air with Clarke’s bat still to be grounded over the crease. Clarke was out for nought and Australia, who’d lost two wickets for three runs in six balls, were now 220 for four. And they could have been five down had not normally reliable slip fielder Paul Collingwood dropped Hussey, on 55, off Swann.

But Australia were 236 for five when Marcus North, trying to sweep Swann, was smartly stumped by wicket-keeper Matt Prior.

Australia resumed Sunday on 80 without loss. Left-hander Simon Katich had only added one to his overnight 42 when, padding up, he was plumb lbw to Swann. And three balls later fellow opener Shane Watson (40) was lbw to first innings bowling hero Stuart Broad.

England consolidated Saturday the advantage gained from dismissing Australia for just 160, with Broad taking five for 37, in a second innings 373 for nine declared that featured a debut century from Jonathan Trott, who made 119.

Strauss’s declaration left the visitors needing to break the record for a successful Test fourth innings run-chase, of 418 for seven set by West Indies against Australia in Antigua in 2002/03, to win this match.

An England victory would leave Ponting with the unwanted record of becoming only the second Australia captain, since Billy Murdoch in 1890, to be in charge of two losing Ashes tours of England.

London: Andrew Flintoff took five wickets as England finally ended their 75-year wait for an Ashes victory at Lord’s with a 115-run win over Australia on the final day of the second Test here on Monday.

Victory saw England take a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series having clung on for a draw in Cardiff.

Australia set a mammoth 522 to win – a target that had they achieved it would have surpassed the fourth innings Test world record victory total of 418 for seven made by the West Indies against Australia in Antigua in 2002-03 – were bowled out for 406 shortly before lunch on the fifth day.

Fast bowler Flintoff, who before this match announced he would retire from Test cricket at the end of this series, took five wickets for 92 runs in 27 overs, including three for 43 in 10 overs on Monday.

It was only the third time in the 31-year-old all-rounder’s 77-Test career he’d taken five wickets in a Test innings.

Off-spinner Graeme Swann provided good support with four for 87.Michael Clarke did his best to deny England with a superb innings of 136 but ultimately could not prevent the hosts beating Australia in a Test at Lord’s for the first time since 1934, when they won by an innings and 38 runs.

“To win an Ashes Test match at Lord’s feels very special but we’re not going to get carried away,” England captain Andrew Strauss insisted.

His Australian counterpart Ricky Ponting was magnanimous in defeat. “We are obviously disappointed to lose in this type of venue but we were outplayed from the first ball to the last ball.

“Now we have to bounce back, regroup and hit the ground running for the next Test at Edgbaston.”

Australia resumed on 313 for five, 209 runs adrift of their target, with Clarke 125 not out and Brad Haddin 80 not out.

But starting again is never easy and they were unable to add to a stand worth 185 with Haddin out for his overnight score.

Haddin edged the 10th ball of the morning, fast bowler Flintoff’s fourth, straight to Paul Collingwood who took a good low catch at second slip.

Flintoff was now fired up and hit Clarke on the head with a bouncer, as the batsman took his eye off the ball, before beating him on the outside edge.

New batsman Mitchell Johnson was fortunate on four, after being completely deceived by a Flintoff slower ball that struck him on the pad, that veteran umpire Rudi Koertzen, standing in his 100th Test, had correctly called no-ball.

But it was Swann who, with his second ball on Monday, took the wicket England craved when he beat Clarke in the air as the batsman went down the pitch and bowled him off-stump to end the Australia vice-captain’s innings of more than five hours.

Flintoff then bowled Nathan Hauritz for one as the batsman shouldered arms and Australia were 363 for eight.

Flintoff, the star of England’s 2005 Ashes series win, though then completed only the third five-wicket haul of his Test career when he bowled Peter Siddle, and celebrated by going down on one knee with his arms outstretched after leaving his side on the brink of victory.

Fast bowler Johnson, who’d struggled with the ball, defied England with a 62-ball fifty.But Swann, who dropped a difficult caught and bowled chance off Johnson, bowled him for 63 to seal England’s victory.

London: England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff announced on Wednesday that he will retire from Test cricket after the Ashes series against Australia because of his ongoing struggle with injuries.

The 31-year-old Flintoff is still determined to feature in the four remaining tests of the current series — despite aggravating a knee injury during the drawn first Test against Australia which ended on Sunday.

“My body has told me it’s time to stop,” the former England captain said. “For the next four Test matches I’ll do everything I need to do to get on a cricket field and I’m desperate to make my mark.

“I want to finish playing for England on a high and if you look at the fixtures going forward, the way my body is suggests I won’t be able to get through that.”

Flintoff has struggled with injuries since being at the heart of the 2005 Ashes triumph and is sacrificing five-day cricket to try to ensure his fitness for the 50-over and Twenty20 international matches. He has played Test cricket for 11 years.

“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,” he said.

“Since 2005 I’ve done two years when I’ve done nothing but rehab from one injury or another. Two of the last four years I’ve spent just in rehabilitation and I just can’t keep doing it for myself, my own sanity, my family and also for the team — because they need to move on as well.”

England captain Andrew Strauss revealed that although he had prior knowledge, Flintoff made the announcement to the team on Wednesday morning.

“As players we’ve had a feeling this was coming sooner rather than later with the injuries he’s had over the last couple of years,” Strauss said. “Test match bowling puts so much pressure on his body that this seemed the logical thing to do.

“It’s sad that he’s made this decision at this age but maybe it will make him more motivated for the next four Tests. He wants to go out with a bang.”

Strauss was confident that Flintoff would be fit enough to get through the Lord’s Test that starts on Thursday and also the rest of the series.

“We spoke to the medical staff and we would never play a guy in a Test if we didn’t have a huge amount of confidence that he could get through,” he said. “He feels better the news is out there and with the injury surrounding this game he felt it was the right time.”