LONDON,  (Reuters) – England all-rounder Andrew  Flintoff will retire from test cricket after the Ashes series  against Australia because his battered body can no longer cope  with the demands of five-day matches.

“My body is telling me things and I’m starting to listen,”  Flintoff told a news conference at Lord’s yesterday. “I’ve  missed two years out of the past four so my career has been  curtailed by injury.”

Flintoff, 31, has missed 25 of England’s last 48 matches  after four operations on his left ankle as well as shoulder, hip  and knee injuries.

He suffered pain and swelling of his right knee after the  drawn first test in Cardiff on Sunday following an operation to  repair a torn meniscus this year but is optimistic that he will  be fit for the second test starting day.
Flintoff said he now planned to concentrate on one-day  cricket.

“There’s a (50 overs) World Cup in 2011,” he said. “I’d like  to play in the one after that as well because I think there’s a  lot of cricket left in me.
“I’m giving up test cricket, I’m not giving up cricket. I  enjoy the shorter form of the game and I want to be the best I  can.”

DRAMATIC IMPACT
After an indifferent start to his test career, Flintoff  began to train properly and blossomed into a true test  all-rounder when Michael Vaughan took over as captain in 2003.    Under Vaughan he was the leading England player in the  memorable 2005 Ashes series, scoring 402 runs at 40.20 and  taking 24 wickets at 27.29. He was a sure catcher at slip and  his whole-hearted fast bowling and clean hitting made him a folk  hero in England.

However, his form steadily declined after 2006. He has not  scored a century or taken five wickets in an innings in test  cricket since and his overall test record of 31.69 with the bat  and 32.51 does not reflect his talent or the impact he made at  his peak.

“He’s had a dramatic impact on English cricket over the last  few years, the way he’s batted, the style in which he’s batted.  For a long period he’s been probably one of the bowlers in world  cricket that opposition batsmen least like facing,” England  captain Andrew Strauss said yesterday.

“Maybe pure figures don’t show that. Also as a personality I  think he’s done a huge amount for the game of cricket, the way  he’s always played with a smile on his face.