17 Sep 2010

Flintoff retires from all cricket

6:13 am on 17 September 2010

The England cricket all rounder Andrew Flintoff has announced his retirement from all forms of the game after years of battling a succession of injuries.

32 year old Flintoff called time on one of the most colourful and inspirational careers in English cricket after being told by his doctor that his knee could no longer stand the rigours of top level sport.

Flintoff retired from test cricket last year following the Ashes victory over Australia but had hoped to continue playing for his county Lancashire and England in limited overs matches.

Flintoff said the knee operation he had 12 months ago was successful, but not good enough to start playing cricket again.

His 17 years of professional cricket will be remembered mostly for his performances in the 2005 Ashes series when his destructive bowling helped England beat Australia in a series for the first time since 1987.

In his 79 test matches Flintoff scored nearly 4,000 runs, including five centuries, at an average of more than 30, and he took 226 wickets.

At the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean he became embroiled in controversy when he had to be rescued from the sea after taking out a pedalo after a night out. He was subsequently stripped of the vice-captaincy.