Flintoff calls time on career

Andrew Flintoff confirmed what many people had long sensed was inevitable on Thursday - that he has played his last game of professional cricket.

The all-rounder had a knee operation last August, the day after what proved his final appearance when he helped England regain the Ashes at The Oval.

"It is with both disappointment and sadness that I am announcing my retirement from all forms of cricket," Flintoff spelled out in a statement via his management company. "The decision to end my career came on Wednesday after consultation with medical advisers."

He had already announced his Test match retirement back then but remained optimistic for much of the past 12 months that he could battle back to prove himself one of the world's outstanding limited-overs cricketers.

A second operation at the start of this year delayed any comeback date, and it was ominous last month that - on the day he was hoping to make a tentative return for Lancashire 2nd XI - he instead accepted he would not be playing this summer after all.

Another make-or-break meeting with his surgeon this week forced the 32-year-old to accept a 14-year career - which included 79 Tests and 140 one-day internationals - was over.

He added: "I was told that the problems I have been trying to overcome in rehab for the last year, following the latest in a series of operations, would not recover sufficiently to allow a comeback.

"Having been told that my body would no longer stand up to the rigours of cricket, I had no alternative but to retire."

Flintoff, who also thanked his county club and supporters prominently in the same statement, recalled in an interview with Sky Sports News the moment he realised he would never play again.

"I had a scan at the beginning of the week which confirmed what I suspected - that the knee wasn't quite right - and I had a meeting in Glasgow on Wednesday with the surgeon," he said. "He just confirmed that the operation I had 12 months ago has been fine, but not good enough to start playing cricket again."