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Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who shared a love-hate relationship with Andrew Flintoff, said that the all-rounder's retirement from Test cricket will be a big loss for England.

'It's a big loss for England. I always said England needed to balance his (Flintoff) bowling with his batting if they wanted him to survive longer in Test cricket. With England, every time they are under pressure, it is Freddie with the ball because he is their best bowler,' Sourav was quoted as saying in the English media.

On Flintoff's injuries, Sourav said: 'He's a big boy and injuries are part and parcel of sport, but there are other fast bowlers around the world who are running in and keep playing and doing well in Test matches. I think it's more about Freddie Flintoff's body than the rigours of international cricket.'

The duo's relationship has been a talking point in international cricket.

During Sourav's county stint with Lancashire, Flintoff sarcastically commented that having the Indian in the team 'was like having 'Prince Charles' on your side.'

Both the players also indulged in waving shirts while celebrating victory. Flintoff surprised everyone by taking off his shirt in wild celebration after England defeated India in Mumbai to level the one-day series 3-3 in 2002.

Few months later, Sourav took the revenge in a similar celebration on the Lord's balcony after India pulled off the second highest run chase in one-day history to win the Natwest Trophy.

The 31-year-old Flintoff Wednesday, on the eve of the second Ashes Test at Lord's, announced his retirement from Test cricket after aggravating the injury on his right knee, which was operated upon recently. He aggravated his knee injury while bowling in the first Test at Cardiff and Monday took some injections as a desperate measure to get fit for the second Test.

Since making his Test debut at the age of 20, Flintoff has been struggling with his persistent back, hip and groin problems and also underwent four ankle surgeries.

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 on Wednesday. "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 on 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 on Thursday.

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 on Wednesday.

"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.

Former England captain and all-rounder Andrew Flintoff Wednesday announced his retirement from Test cricket after the Ashes, admitting that his injuries have conquered him.

'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, adding that he had conveyed the decision to his teammates before the practice session here Wednesday.

'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 (to quit Test cricket),' said Flintoff, who was ICC's player of the year in 2005.

a series of injuries have kept Flintoff out of cricket since 2005. The 31-year-old Flintoff has missed 25 of England's last 48 Tests and is even doubtful for the second Test against England at Lord's from Thursday. He aggravated his knee injury while bowling in the first Test at Cardiff and Monday took some injections as a desperate measure to get fit for the second Test.

'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,' said Flintoff, who played a stellar role in winning the Ashes for England in 2005 after 18 years.

'I've chatted to Andrew Strauss and he is very supportive but I will make my decision on whether I will be fit enough to play in the Test match and not because I want to play one last Test for England at Lord's,' he added.

Flintoff said this decision will now help him to extend his One-day and Twenty20 career. Since making his Test debut at the age of 20, Flintoff has been struggling with his persistent back, hip and groin problems and also underwent four ankle operations.

'I love playing Test cricket, but the decision has been made for me - I don't think I've been left with any other choices. I've not been playing Test cricket very often over the last few years so it's bitterly disappointing but it's something I've not been doing very often anyway.

'It's also important for the team that I make this announcement because they need to move on. They can't keep waiting for me to get fit or for me to play a game here and there - they need to give someone else a chance to make their way in the game.'

'I would have liked to have stamped my mark more, but I had three years from 2003 to 2005 when I had everything going my own way. I got a few man-of-the-series awards on the bounce and I tried wholeheartedly and gave my best every time I went out there.

'Since 2005 I have just been plagued with injury so I've got the opportunity now to finish on a high by helping England to win the Ashes and it will give me great pleasure if I can play my last Test at the Oval and we can win the Ashes - it doesn't get any bigger than that.'

Flintoff has played 75 Test over a span of 11 years and has picked up 212 wickets besides scoring 3,658 runs including five centuries.

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 England and Wales Cricket Board said on Wednesday.

He 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."

Former Australia skipper Steve Waugh has said that bowling spearhead Mitchell Johnson would bounce back from his dismal performance in the first Ashes Test to display his talent in the second test match.

"He didn't play well but he's been our best player for 18 months. You don't drop a player after one bad Test match," The Fox Sports quoted Waugh, as saying.

Though Johnson finished with a respectable figure of 5-131, he was unable to stop England's tailenders from saving the match at Sofia Gardens.

Waugh also expressed confidence at the current squad and highlighted that there was no need to make any adjustments.

"There might be some merit in that but I don't think they will. They've taken 19 wickets on a featherbed, I don't think it's the time to make changes," Waugh said.

"It's not the way Australia tend do things. They tend to put their trust in the players they select," he added.

Further Waugh chose to focus on the exciting Test cricket that was on show on the fifth day in Cardiff, rather than Ricky Ponting allegations, that England did not play with spirit.

"You want passion and emotion in Test match cricket and the last day in Cardiff was a great day. We should be celebrating the fact that after 30 hours - some of the cricket wasn't the greatest - but it culminated in this fantastic day," he said.

There was one man who sported the biggest grin at the Event Identity Launch of the 2011 Cricket World Cup to be co-hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Zakir Khan, Pakistan Cricket Board's Director, Cricket Operations, was mightily pleased he attended the ICC event here on Tuesday as Sharad Pawar the ICC vice-president said that Pakistan was very much part of the organizing committee.

"All the three boards, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India will organise the 2011 World Cup in a dignified manner," Pawar said. "I am upset that our major partner Pakistan are not hosting a single match because of the unfortunate circumstances. Though Pakistan is not organising a single match, they will be very much part of us to help organise a dignified manner," Pawar said.

But only a while earlier before the function to unveil the World Cup, the 2011 World Cup Central Organising Committee (COC) met under the chairmanship of Pawar but without PCB being represented. Zakir, though, was the cynosure of all eyes, though he did not utter a word.

Pawar, who is also the chairman of the COC, said that it was the Indian cricket board's initiative "not to charge heavily on tickets for the World Cup". "We want the student community to be able to afford the tickets, after seeing what happened in the West Indies. We don't want to earn money through gate collection," Pawar said.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive of ICC, Haroon Lorgat said that the 50-over World Cup would still be the showcase event (and not any other version). "You can see the value of the World Cup. The flagship event is the 50-over World Cup and I don't think anything can compete with it," Lorgat said.India will host a majority of the matches in the 2011 World Cup to be staged in southern Asia, as per the recommendations made by the tournament's central organising committee (COC) on Tuesday.

England coach Andy Flower is optimistic that his key all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will be ready in time for the second Ashes Test starting Thursday at Lord's.

Flintoff's right knee, operated recently, ballooned during the first Test against Australia in Cardiff. The English cricketer Monday met his surgeon, who gave some injection after which Flintoff had a short batting session at the nets Tuesday.

Flower said that Flintoff will undergo a fitness test on the eve of the match after his fitness will be assessed.

'His surgeon who operated on his knee was quite optimistic about him playing in this game. The suggestion is that he'll be okay but we can only make that decision later,' Flower was quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph.

'I think with Fred, and his injury record, we are always concerned, to be honest. At this time of his career, his body is in the sort of state when he seems vulnerable a lot of the time. We can't get away from that but he's a hell of a player and we want him in our side if he's fit,' he said.

If Flintoff is unfit, fast bowler Steve Harmison will replace him. Flower said he was happy with Harmison's performance in the domestic season.

'I never drew any line under Steve. He's a very good fast bowler with a very good record for England, so he was always in our minds.

'He's in form, as is Graham Onions, but we'll look at the pitch and decide what balance of bowlers we want. He's a like-for-like replacement for Flintoff, but we'll see what is needed for the match,' Flower said.

Just three weeks after being hailed as national heroes for winning the Twenty20 World Cup, the Pakistan cricket team is under fire after suffering their first test series defeat in Sri Lanka.

Accusations of splits within the team have emerged after Pakistan went 2-0 down in their three-test series against the Sri Lankans on Tuesday after a batting collapse.

Former chief selector Abdul Qadir blamed former captain Shoaib Malik and the current skipper Younis Khan for creating divisions within the team.

"They are responsible for these defeats," Qadir told Reuters. "There are groups within the team because of them."

Younis replaced Malik as captain earlier this year in a surprise decision by the board after Pakistan had lost a one-day series at home to Sri Lanka.

Former test pacer Sarfraz Nawaz said Malik and other senior players were not cooperating with Younis.

"The board must give such players exemplary punishment," Nawaz said. "The board must investigate how a strong batting line-up collapsed like a pack of cards when we were in winning positions."

Political infighting in the Pakistani dressing room is nothing new.

Imran Khan, widely regarded as Pakistan's best captain, retired after the teams's 1992 World Cup after reports players were not happy with his diverting a share of the prize money and winning bonuses to the construction of his cancer hospital.

In 1993 Javed Miandad was sacked as captain after internal revolts by fast bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

Wasim himself was forced to step down a year later when a group of senior players led by batsman Salim Malik revolted against him.

Pakistan board chairman Ejaz Butt denied the existence of splits within the team and insisted there would be no knee-jerk reaction to the defeat in Sri Lanka..

"It is rubbish," he told media in Lahore. "There are no groupings in the team. I know Younis has a good relationship with his vice captain and other players.

"I think our team is taking time to adjust to test cricket. They have played just four matches in the last 20 months. We need to give them time."

A day before the start of the second Ashes test, the "time-wasting" row from the finale of the first match refuses to die down with Australia captain Ricky Ponting weighing in again on Wednesday.

"I have been a bit blown away by all the fuss over my comments on England's physio and 12th man in Cardiff," Ponting wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

"As I tried to explain that night, I was disappointed when they came back out on to the field for a second time, but it had no bearing on the game. Now it seems as if we're all talking about that one little incident, when we've just witnessed one of the great climaxes to a Test match.

"It's all done and dusted, it was over within a couple of minutes, and the players have all moved on."

England sent on their 12th man twice in two overs as well as their physio as tailenders James Anderson and Monty Panesar held out for a draw.

Captain Andrew Strauss said it was merely to convey messages to the batsmen and that there had been no time wasting.

Ponting, using the classic Australian put-down, described it as "pretty ordinary."

Former England coach Duncan Fletcher took issue with that and wrote in Wednesday's Guardian: "Ponting has to be careful. Someone needs to sit down and ask him what he understands by the spirit of the game. The way he plays is definitely not in the spirit."

Ponting described Fletcher as "a very irrelevant person in my life and probably in the cricket world at the moment.

"In recent years our record of players being reported or stepping over the line in international cricket has probably been as good as anyone's."

'CRASS HYPOCRISY'

Others were not so keen to let the tourists off the hook.

"Had the words been spoken by just about anyone else on Planet Cricket, they might have carried some weight, but from the diminutive Aussie they smack of crass hypocrisy," wrote Matthew Syed in The Times.

"This is a man who has turned slow play into an art form. Australia have been fined 33 times for slow play since 1995: 20 of them under Ponting's captaincy and eight times since the start of 2008.

"This is a man whose attempts to put pressure on umpires has become so sustained, insistent and aggressive that it has started to cause concern at the highest levels of the game.

"This is a man who has been fined six times for breaches of the ICC Code of Conduct (in addition to the fines for time-wasting).

"Had the positions been reversed, we all know what would have happened. Ponting would not merely have sent on the 12th man and the physio; he would have dispatched the batting coach, the doctor and the team toe-nail cutter.

"Hell, he would have sent out Dame Edna, Rolf Harris, the cast of Home and Away and Skippy the bush kangaroo if he thought he would have got away with it."

Australia will draw inspiration from their performance in the first Ashes test against England and their outstanding overall record at Lord's for the second test starting on Thursday (1000GMT).

Only an heroic last wicket stand between James Anderson and Monty Panesar in Cardiff denied Australia victory in a game in which they were the superior team in all departments of the game.

They have also not lost a test against England at Lord's since 1934 when Yorkshire left-arm spinner Hedley Verity dismissed Don Bradman cheaply in both innings in a match haul of 15 wickets.

"There is a great feel around the place, and all the history, and the very proud record that Australia have had here for so long makes you feel good about the place when you arrive," Australia captain Ricky Ponting told reporters on Tuesday.

"Already the guys were talking about our record here in the team meeting and how much everyone has been looking forward to playing here, and what it means to a lot of our younger guys in particular to play here."

Australia will take particular encouragement from the form of their Ashes debutants Marcus North, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle in Cardiff.

North scored his second century in three tests, off-spinner Hauritz outbowled England's Graeme Swann and Panesar and pacemen Hilfenhaus and Siddle more than compensated for Mitchell Johnson's indifferent form.

HARMISON RECALL

"I'm not surprised by what any of the young guys who have come in have done," Ponting said. "I get an opportunity to look at these guys really closely, how they go about their preparations."

All the problems now seem to be in the England camp where Andrew Flintoff is yet again an injury doubt. Steve Harmison has been called up as cover but the Durham fast bowler may play anyway after his outstanding recent county form.

"You pick the best 11 players to win you a test match," said captain Andrew Strauss. "We've got to decide what our best bowling attack is for this particular wicket.

"Graham Onions has got strong credentials. He took seven wickets here on debut a couple of months ago and he is bang in form as well as Steve so he's definitely an option for us.

"But we know Steve has had significant contributions here before, including the 2005 Ashes so that's something going for him."

Strauss conceded England had under-performed in Cardiff with none of the batsmen carrying on to make a big score while each of the five bowlers conceded more than 100 runs.

"There will be quite a few guys who are relieved it's up and running now. We've seen the Aussie batsmen, seen the Aussie bowlers and now it's a case of just knuckling down and playing cricket," he said.

"We had some good passages of play in that Test match but not enough of them and we gave them opportunities when we shouldn't have done."

India will host a majority of the matches in the 2011 World Cup to be staged in southern Asia, as per the recommendations made by the tournament's central organising committee (COC) on Tuesday.

India will host 29 of the tournament's 49 matches, including a quarter-final, a semi-final and the final, after Pakistan was stripped of staging rights over security concerns in that country.

The COC's recommendations await clearance from the board of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the statement said.

India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will host the tournament. Pakistan was initially allotted 14 matches which has been redistributed with India getting eight of those matches.

The matches in India will be played across eight venues, Sri Lanka has 12 matches, including a semi-final, at three venues and Bangladesh eight games at two venues.

Pakistan, who technically continue to be a host, were invited to attend the meeting but went unrepresented, ICC said in a statement after a meeting of the COC at the event's secretariat in Mumbai which was shifted from Lahore.

England head coach Andy Flower rejected on Tuesday any suggestion that his team had engaged in deliberate time wasting during the drawn first Ashes test against Australia on Sunday.

Reserve fielder Bilal Shafayat went on to the field twice while the last pair James Anderson and Monty Panesar were batting for 69 balls to save the match.

Both times Anderson changed his gloves and on the second occasion Shafayat was accompanied by the team physiotherapist Steve McCaig. Australia captain Ricky Ponting said later he could not understand why Anderson needed new gloves twice or why the physiotherapist needed to be on the field at all.

"To be honest, I'm a bit surprised at all the hullabaloo," Flower told a news conference at Lord's.

"In that last hour or two of the game there was no time wasting at all. Never did we consciously try to waste time."

Flower said there was confusion among the batsmen about what time the game was going to end. In the final hour Australia could have bowled more than the minimum 11.3 overs required.

"We needed to get messages out to them to make sure that they were clear," Flower said. "We haven't got walkie-talkies to those guys, the only way to get messages to them was to send people out there. We did that right at the end.

"We have got a very good record as a side and we play the game the right way. In the last few years we have got the ICC (International Cricket Council) fair play award twice.

"So let's keep it all in perspective and not deflect attention from a very good rearguard action."