The England and Wales Cricket Board said on Wednesday said that England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is to retire from Test cricket at the end of the Ashes series against Australia because of persistent injury problems. The 31-year-old will continue to make himself available for one-day and Twenty20 fixtures, an ECB statement said.

“My body has told me it’s time to stop. Since 2005 I’ve had two years when I’ve done nothing but rehab from one injury or another,” Flintoff said.

“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’s participation in the second Test at Lord’s, which starts on Thursday, remains in doubt after he suffered his latest injury in the first Test, when he bowled 35 overs. The Lancashire all-rounder had surgery for a torn meniscus in April, cutting short his time in the Indian Premier League.

The news is a big blow to England as Flintoff is not only a key strike bowler and destructive batsman but a huge personality who lifts his team-mates and the crowd.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said on Wednesday he thought it had been a risk using Flintoff as one of only three seamers in Cardiff but added: “He showed the galvanizing effect he can have on the second afternoon (in Cardiff), when his spell after lunch really got the crowd going.”

Flintoff made his England debut in 1998 and has played 76 Tests and 141 One-Day Internationals. He averages 31.69 in Tests and has taken 219 wickets.

Hugely popular with fans for his whole-hearted approach and winning personality, he was a key member of the 2005 Ashes-winning side.

However, his career has been blighted by injury and he has missed more than 20 Tests over the last three years. He had four separate operations on his ankle between 2005 and 2007 and has problems with his hip, groin, shoulder and back.

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Extras (b 8, lb 1, nb 17

Scoreboard:

Pakistan 1st innings

Khurram Manzoor c Dilshan b Kulasekara 3

Fawad Alam lbw b Mathews 16

Younis Khan b Thushara 0

Mohammad Yousuf c Herath b Kulasekara 10

Misbah-ul-Haq c Dilshan b Kulasekara 0

Shoaib Malik not out 39

Kamran Akmal c Dilshan b Thushara 9

Abdur Rauf lbw b Kulasekara 0

Umar Gul c Samaraweera b Mendis 1

Mohammad Aamer lbw b Mendis 2

Saeed Ajmal lbw b Mendis 0

Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 2, nb 2) 10

Total (all out; 36 overs) 90

Fall of wickets:1-4, 2-6, 3-17, 4-19, 5-51, 6-67, 7-74, 8-80, 9-90, 10-90

Bowling:N Kulasekara:9-3-21-4-2.33,T Thushara:8-3-23-2-2.87,A Mendis:10-3-20-3-2.00,AD Mathews:3-0-15-1-5.00,R Herath:6-3-5-0-0.83,

Sri Lanka 1st innings

BSM Warnapura lbw b Umar Gul 11

NT Paranavitana c Kamran Akmal b Saeed Ajmal 26

KC Sangakkara b Umar Gul 87

MD Jayawardene c Khurram Manzoor b Saeed Ajmal 19

TT Samaraweera run out (Mohammad Aamer) 21

TM Dilshan c Kamran Akmal b Saeed Ajmal 20

AD Mathews c Mohammad Yousuf b Saeed Ajmal 27

KMDN Kulasekara c Misbah-ul-Haq b Umar Gul 11

HMRKB Herath c & b Umar Gul 0

T Thushara lbw b Abdur Rauf 1

BAW Mendis not out 0

Extras (b 8, lb 1, nb 8 ) 17

Total (all out; 80 overs) 240

Fall of wickets:1-28, 2-82, 3-133, 4-177, 5-188, 6-203, 7-220, 8-220, 9-227, 10-240

Bowling:Umar Gul:18-1-43-4-2.38,Mohammad Aamer:13-2-36-0-2.76,Abdur Rauf:11-1-38-1-3.45,Saeed Ajmal:31-5-87-4-2.80,Younis Khan:7-1-27-0-3.85

Pakistan 2nd innings

Khurram Manzoor c Dilshan b Herath 38

Fawad Alam c Warnapura b Herath 168

Younis Khan c Dilshan b Paranavitana 82

Mohammad Yousuf lbw b Herath 6

Misbah-ul-Haq lbw b Kulasekara 3

Shoaib Malik b Herath 6

Kamran Akmal lbw b Kulasekara 3

Abdur Rauf lbw b Kulasekara 0

Umar Gul lbw b Herath 2

Mohammad Aamer not out 1

Saeed Ajmal lbw b Kulasekara 0

Extras (b 8, lb 1, w 1, nb 1) 11

Total (all out; 96.4 overs) 320

Fall of wickets:1-85, 2-285, 3-294, 4-303, 5-303, 6-306, 7-312, 8-316, 9-319, 10-320

Bowling:N Kulasekara:19.4-6-37-4-1.88,T Thushara:13-0-48-0-3.69,AD Mathews:6-0-20-0-3.33,A Mendis:17-0-81-0-4.76,R Herath:35-5-99-5-2.82,NT Paranavitana:6-0-26-1-4.33

Sri Lanka 2nd innings (target: 171 runs)

BSM Warnapura c Kamran Akmal b Abdur Rauf 54

NT Paranavitana b Saeed Ajmal 17

KC Sangakkara c Misbah-ul-Haq b Shoaib Malik 46

DPMD Jayawardene not out 37

TT Samaraweera not out 6

Extras (lb 7, nb 4) 11

Total (3 wickets; 31.5 overs) 171

Fall of wickets:1-60, 2-100, 3-160

Bowling:Umar Gul:6-0-38-0-6.33,Mohammad Aamer:6-0-33-0-5.50,Saeed Ajmal:12-1-56-1-4.66,Abdur Rauf:4-1-13-1-3.25,Younis Khan:2-0-11-0-5.50,Shoaib Malik:1.5-0-13-1-7.09

Series Sri Lanka led the 3-match series 2-0

Players of the match: Fawad Alam (Pakistan) and N Kulasekara (Sri Lanka)

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Debutant Fawad Alam scored an unbeaten century as Pakistan produced a remarkable turnaround to claw their way back in the second Test

The tourists, who were bowled out for 90 in their first innings, hit back to dismiss Sri Lanka for 240 and then cruised to 178-1 in their second knock by stumps on the second day.

Left-handed Alam led the way with a determined 102 not out to give Pakistan a lead of 28 runs with nine wickets in hand on a dry pitch that appeared to have eased out under the hot sun.

The fearless 23-year-old from Karachi moved to 98 by lofting left-arm spinner Rangana Herath for a six over mid-wicket and then flicked the next ball for two runs to reach the coveted century. Alam put on 85 for the first wicket with Khurram Manzoor, who made 38 before he was caught behind by wicket-keeper Tillakaratne Dilshan off Herath.

Skipper Younus Khan, who was dismissed for zero in the first innings, was unbeaten on 35 at stumps after adding 93 for the unbroken second wicket with Alam.

Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara rotated his seam and spin attack in short bursts to gain quick breakthroughs, but Pakistan’s batsmen were not found wanting a second time.

Pakistan’s fightback was launched by seamer Umar Gul and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, who took four wickets each to keep Sri Lanka’s first innings in check.

The hosts lost their last seven wickets for 63 runs after starting the day at a comfortable 164-3.

Sri Lanka won the first Test in Galle by 50 runs last week to take the lead in the three-match series.

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Scoreboard:

England 1st innings

AJ Strauss c Clarke b Johnson 30

AN Cook c Hussey b Hilfenhaus 10

RS Bopara c Hughes b Johnson 35

KP Pietersen c Katich b Hauritz 69

PD Collingwood c Haddin b Hilfenhaus 64

MJ Prior b Siddle 56

A Flintoff b Siddle 37

JM Anderson c Hussey b Hauritz 26

SCJ Broad b Johnson 19

GP Swann not out 47

MS Panesar c Ponting b Hauritz 4

Extras (b 13, lb 11, w 2, nb 12) 38

Total (all out; 106.5 overs) 435

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-67, 3-90, 4-228, 5-241, 6-327, 7-329, 8-355, 9-423, 10-435

Bowling:MG Johnson:22-2-87-3-3.95,BW Hilfenhaus:27-5-77-2-2.85,PM Siddle:27-3-121-2-4.48,NM Hauritz:23.5-1-95-3-3.98,MJ Clarke:5-0-20-0-4.00,SM Katich:2-0-11-0-5.50

Australia 1st innings

PJ Hughes c Prior b Flintoff 36

SM Katich lbw b Anderson 122

RT Ponting b Panesar 150

MEK Hussey c Prior b Anderson 3

MJ Clarke c Prior b Broad 83

MJ North not out 125

BJ Haddin c Bopara b Collingwood 121

Extras (b 9, lb 14, w 4, nb 7) 34

Total (6 wickets dec; 181 overs) 674

Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-299, 3-325, 4-331, 5-474, 6-674

Bowling:JM Anderson:32-6-110-2-3.43,SCJ Broad:32-6-129-1-4.03,GP Swann:38-8-131-0-3.44,A Flintoff:35-3-128-1-3.65,MS Panesar:35-4-115-1-3.28,PD Collingwood:9-0-38-1-4.22

England 2nd innings

AJ Strauss c Haddin b Hauritz 17

AN Cook lbw b Johnson 6

RS Bopara lbw b Hilfenhaus 1

KP Pietersen b Hilfenhaus 8

PD Collingwood c Hussey b Siddle 74

MJ Prior c Clarke b Hauritz 14

A Flintoff c Ponting b Johnson 26

SCJ Broad lbw b Hauritz 14

GP Swann lbw b Hilfenhaus 31

JM Anderson not out 21

MS Panesar not out 7

Extras (b 9, lb 9, w 4, nb 11) 33

Total (9 wickets; 105 overs) 252

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-17, 3-31, 4-46, 5-70, 6-127, 7-159, 8-221, 9-233

Bowling:MG Johnson:22-4-44-2-2.00,BW Hilfenhaus:15-3-47-3-3.13,PM Siddle:18-2-51-1-2.83,NM Hauritz:37-12-63-3-1.70,MJ Clarke:3-0-8-0-2.66,MJ North:7-4-14-0-2.00,SM Katich:3-0-7-0-2.33

Series 5-match series level 0-0

Player of the match: RT Ponting (Australia)

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Sri Lanka have never won a home series against Pakistan, but this time they look  to rectify the stats with a dominant performance with ball and bat on the first day at the P Sara Oval. Pakistan had a horrible batting display in Galle, but they sunk even lower here, being bundled out for an embarrassing 90 after winning the toss. Sri Lanka’s batsmen, led by Captain Kumar Sangakkara, then gave them a batting lesson, easing to 164 for 3, already 74 in front.

The pitch was favourable for the bowlers, but by no means was batting as difficult as the Pakistan batsmen made it out to be. Sri Lanka’s bowlers Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara and Angelo Mathews pitched it in the corridor, got movement in the air and off the pitch, and that combination was far too dangerous for Pakistan’s diffident top order. Kulasekara was the pick of the lot, wrecking the top order and finishing with well-deserved figures of 4 for 21, while the rest offered excellent support.

To their credit, Pakistan didn’t lose the plot in the field, taking three wickets and creating more opportunities. Malinda Warnapura fell to a rough lbw decision, Tharanga Paranavitana got an under edge after looking solid for his 26, while an out-of-sorts Mahela Jayawardene was trapped by a superb delivery which spun and bounced.

Pakistan’s fast bowlers ran in tirelessly, but the one who looked most likely to take wickets was Ajmal, the offspinner. On a dry pitch where the odd ball was already showing signs of misbehaving, Ajmal had most of the Sri Lankan batsmen in a spot of bother. Unfortunately for Pakistan, they gave away so much ground in the first three hours of play that it’ll require a exceptional effort for them to stay in this match, and the series.

Stats:

• Pakistan’s first innings total 90 is their lowest against Sri Lanka and their seventh-lowest in all. Their previous lowest against Sri Lanka had been 117 only a week back in Galle.
• Pakistan team lasted only 36 overs which being their third-lowest in the first innings of a match.
• Abdur Rauf faced 34 balls for his duck. It’s the second-longest for Pakistan, in terms of balls faced, and the 12th-longest in all.
• The number of ducks in the Pakistan innings was 4, which is the highest for them against Sri Lanka. Their highest against any team is six, versus West Indies in Karachi in 1980-81.

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Sri Lanka will once again go without the spin king Muttiah Muralitharan as they attempt a series-clinching win when the second Test against Pakistan starts on Sunday.

The world’s leading Test and One-day bowler missed the first Test in Galle, which Sri Lanka won by 50 runs, after hurting the patella tendon in his right knee during training last week.

Team manager Brendon Kuruppu said Muralitharan, 37, had improved considerably but will sit out the second Test on his home ground at the P Sara Oval as a precautionary measure.

“He won’t be playing the Test, but that’s more as a precaution than anything else,” Kuruppu said. “We are confident Murali will play the third Test.”

The off-spinner, who has taken a record 770 Test and 505 One-day wickets, was not missed as Sri Lanka pulled off a dramatic win in the Galle Test to take the lead in the three-match series.

Pakistan, chasing a modest target of 168 runs, collapsed from a comfortable 71-2 to 117 all out, losing their last eight wickets for 46 runs on the fourth day.

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Simon Katich scored his maiden Ashes hundred and Australia captain Ricky Ponting also reached three figures to keep England at bay on the second day of the first Ashes Test on Thursday.

Australia, at stumps at Sophia Gardens, were 249 for one in reply to England’s first innings 435, a deficit of 186.

Left-handed opener Katich, dropped early in his innings, was 104 not out and Ponting 100 not out, with their unbroken stand worth 189.

Katich, who has been at the crease for nearly five hours, became the first cricketer to score a Test hundred in Wales when he pulled Andrew Flintoff to post his eighth century at this level off 214 balls with eight fours.

Ponting, who by contrast was compiling his 38th Test hundred, followed him to the landmark with a single off the penultimate ball of the day, also from Flintoff, to bring up a century in 155 balls with eight fours.

During the course of his innings Ponting joined Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and former Australia captain Allan Border as the only batsmen to have made more than 11,000 Test runs.

Flintoff, who produced a ferocious burst when introduced into the attack after lunch that saw him remove opener and Ashes debutant Phillip Hughes. Flintoff immediately tested the 20-year-old left-hander from around the wicket in a bid to cramp the batsman for room.

The pace bowler then saw Katich, on 10, drive the ball low and hard back at him only for Flintoff, in his follow through, to drop the difficult caught and bowled chance.

Hughes, who favours the offside, had made 28 runs off 30 balls before lunch.

But it was a different story after the break with the 20-year-old only managing eight off 24 in the face of some fiery bowling from Flintoff, playing his first Test of the season following a knee injury.

Hughes was eventually out for 36 when he inside edged Flintoff, the hero of England’s 2005 Ashes series win, and wicket-keeper Matt Prior held a good, low diving catch.

Off-spinner Graeme Swann reeled off five consecutive maidens on a pitch taking turn but Australia’s second-wicket duo were rarely troubled by him or left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.

However, Swann was convinced he had Katich lbw for 56 with a ball that pitched in line and spun past the batsman’s defences.

Ponting produced a chanceless display, driving and pulling in typically authoritative fashion as he scored his eighth Test century against England.

Swann, coming in at no. 9, made 47 not out and, together with James Anderson (26), had shared in a valuable ninth-wicket stand of 68 in just 53 balls before lunch.

Swann struck rival off-spinner Nathan Hauritz for three fours in a row, the last a cheeky reverse sweep that took England past 400 after they’d resumed on 336 for seven with all of their specialist batsmen out.

But he was left just short of his second Test fifty when last man Panesar edged Hauritz to Ponting in the slips.

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Hundreds of cricket fans celebrated Indian Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 28th birthday on Tuesday by cutting cake at Mecon Stadium, situated near his residence, and wished him success and more explosive knocks.

Wishing him more success in his life and a wonderful happy birthday!!

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Rangana Herath skittled Pakistan with his left-arm spin to hand Sri Lanka a dramatic 50-run victory in the first cricket Test against Pakistan.

Herath grabbed 4-15 as Pakistan, chasing a modest target of 168, collapsed from a seemingly impregnable 71-2 to 117 all out in their second innings before lunch on the fourth day.

Fast bowler Thilan Thushara and spinner Ajantha Mendis chipped in with two wickets each as a jittery Pakistan lost their last eight batsmen for 46 runs at the Galle International Stadium.

The brilliant win gave Sri Lanka a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series, the first between the two nations since gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in the Pakistani city of Lahore on March 3.

Scoreboard:

Sri Lanka 292 & 217

Pakistan 342 & 117

Sri Lanka 1st innings

BSM Warnapura b Mohammad Aamer 2

NT Paranavitana c Misbah-ul-Haq b Abdur Rauf 72

KC Sangakkara c Shoaib Malik b Mohammad Aamer 9

MD Jayawardene c Kamran Akmal b Abdur Rauf 30

TT Samaraweera c Kamran Akmal b Younis Khan 31

TM Dilshan c Shoaib Malik b Mohammad Aamer28

AD Mathews c Kamran Akmal b Umar Gul 42

KMDN Kulasekara c Kamran Akmal b Younis Khan 38

HMRKB Herath not out 20

T Thushara c Khurram Manzoor b Saeed Ajmal10

BAW Mendis st Kamran Akmal b Saeed Ajmal 5

Extras (b 1, lb 3, nb 1) 5

Total (all out; 80.2 overs; 353 mins) 292

Fall of wickets:1-3, 2-21, 3-96, 4-139, 5-160, 6-194, 7-241, 8-271, 9-282, 10-292

Bowling:Umar Gul:14-3-45-1-3.21,Mohammad Aamer:19-3-74-3-3.89,Abdur Rauf:14-1-59-2-4.21,Younis Khan:7-2-23-2-3.28,Saeed Ajmal:23.2-4-79-2-3.38,shoaib Malik:3-1-8-0-2.66

Pakistan 1st innings

Khurram Manzoor lbw b Thushara 2

Salman Butt b Kulasekara 0

Younis Khan c Dilshan b Mathews 25

Abdur Rauf c Dilshan b Kulasekara 31

Mohammad Yousuf run out (Dilshan) 112

Misbah-ul-Haq c Jayawardene b Herath 56

Shoaib Malik b Kulasekara 38

Kamran Akmal run out (Mathews) 31

Umar Gul b Kulasekara 7

Mohammad Aamer c Paranavitana b Thushara 4

saeed Ajmal not out 1

Extras (b 12, lb 15, w 1, nb 7) 35

Total (all out; 94 overs; 402 mins) 342

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-5, 3-55, 4-80, 5-219, 6-294, 7-303, 8-329, 9-339, 10-342

Bowling:KMDN Kulasekara:24-3-71-4-2.95,T Thushara:21-3-77-2-3.66,BAW Mendis:25-2-89-0-3.56,AD Mathews:8-2-26-1-3.25,HMRKB Herath:16-2-52-1-3.25

Sri Lanka 2nd innings

HMRKB Herath lbw b Younis Khan 15

BSM Warnapura c Younis Khan b Umar Gul 0

NT Paranavitana c Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Aamer 49

KC Sangakkara c Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Aamer 14

MD Jayawardene c Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Aamer 0

TT Samaraweera c Misbah-ul-Haq b Saeed Ajmal 34

TM Dilshan c Khurram Manzoor b Younis Khan 22

AD Mathews c Salman Butt b Abdur Rauf 27

KMDN Kulasekara lbw b Saeed Ajmal 25

T Thushara not out 15

BAW Mendis b Saeed Ajmal 1

Extras (lb 7, w 1, nb 7) 15

Total (all out; 56.2 overs; 281 mins) 217

Fall of wickets:1-0, 2-68, 3-86, 4-88, 5-101, 6-138, 7-156, 8-191, 9-211, 10-217

Bowling:Mohammad Aamer:11-2-38-3-3.45,Umar Gul:10-2-62-1-6.20,Abdur Rauf:13-1-49-1-3.76,Younis Khan:10-1-27-2-2.70,Saeed Ajmal:12.2-0-34-3-2.75

Pakistan 2nd innings (target: 168 runs)

Khurram Manzoor c Jayawardene b Mendis 15

Salman Butt c Paranavitana b Herath 28

Younis Khan lbw b Mathews 3

Mohammad Yousuf lbw b Herath 12

Misbah-ul-Haq run out (†Dilshan) 7

Shoaib Malik c Dilshan b Thushara 0

Kamran Akmal lbw b Thushara 6

Abdur Rauf c Jayawardene b Herath 13

Umar Gul b Mendis 9

Mohammad Aamer c Dilshan b Herath 6

Saeed Ajmal not out 1

Extras (b 13, lb 3, w 1) 17

Total (all out; 44.3 overs; 202 mins) 117

Fall of wickets:1-36, 2-39, 3-71, 4-72, 5-72, 6-80, 7-85, 8-95, 9-110, 10-117

Bowling:KMDN Kulasekara:7-1-25-0-3.57,T Thushara:12-4-21-2-1.75,AD Mathews:4-0-13-1-3.25,BAW Mendis:10-0-27-2-2.70,HMRKB Herath:11.3-5-15-4-1.30

Man of the match: Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka)

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India made amends for their Twenty20 World Cup disaster by winning the ODI series against West Indies by 2-1 after rains washed out the fourth and final ODI at the Beausejour Stadium on Sunday.

The tourists won the four-match series 2-1 following victories in the series opener in Jamaica and the third match on Friday. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was adjudged the Man of the Series.

Dhoni with Cup

The match started an hour late following heavy rains just after India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field.

West Indies were 27 for one when rain interrupted play for the second time after they had lost the crucial wicket of skipper Chris Gayle for a duck.

Runako Morton (12 not out) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (12 not out) were at the crease when play was called off.

Team India

With this victory, India registered only their second bilateral series triumph in the Caribbean. Last time they won a series in West Indies was in 2002 under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy.

India had earlier won the first match of the series by 20 runs, while West Indies came back strongly in the second, hammering the Dhoni-led side by eight wickets.

However riding on Dhoni’s brilliance, India took the unassailable 2-1 lead, winning the third ODI by six wickets with a ball to spare.

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