Flintoff announced today that he is going to stop playing test matches after the current Ashes series. This isn’t something I saw coming, although now it has I can see the reasoning behind it from his point of view. His body does seem to be breaking down more often than not for some reason or another, and committing to five day tests isn’t necessarily as easy as it used to be for him. He probably doesn’t want to let his country down either, saying he’s fit and then turning out not to be.

It will also allow him to pay more attention to things such as the IPL, and gain all the riches that come with that. It makes sense, although it is disappointing from England’s point of view. He adds such a lot as a player that we used to not be able to cope without him, but the truth is we’ve played more and more without him recently that it isn’t such a shock or problem that it used to be. He stopped scoring consistent, big innings quite a while ago and although his bowling and desire is missed, we can move on in the knowledge that he isn’t around and look to the future.

Freddie will be remembered for some great Test Match memories – Pretty much everything from the 05 Ashes, and a personal favourite of mine a few years back when he told Tino Best to “mind them windows Tino…” Youtube link here. We’ll still have him around for ODI’s and thats better than not having him at all.

For a while during the first Ashes test match it felt like I was back in Australia like 07/08 watching us get hammered by the Aussies, but for a few hours on Sunday night we pulled off a great escape when it looked almost certain to be a lost cause. If it wasn’t for Collingwood we wouldn’t have got there, if more of the top order had his determination and cool-headedness we wouldn’t have been there in the first place. Still, a dramatic end after what was a slow to get started Test Match in what we hope will be a great Ashes series.

The batting was a real worry, as Ponting said, there was nothing in the pitch as they showed by scoring 670 before declaring. Maybe it’s the tenseness of a the first Ashes test, maybe the England guys believed some of the hype that the Aussie bowling attack was weak but it just looked like the Australians wanted it more. Bowling wise Broad and Swann didn’t have good games but they cannot be dropped despite one newspaper hack calling for Broad to be dropped. They just need to go with clear heads into the next test, maybe with better plans for each of the Australian batsmen and an additional seamer in for Panesar (we don’t need two spinners at Lord’s) and we can bounce back from this.

Well, obviously not at batting, but as a captain, according to former Australian pace bowler Jeff Thompson. When I heard the interview last night I laughed as it isn’t one of those quotes taken out of context, he honestly believes that Ponting is a rubbish captain and isn’t afraid to say it.

I know there are ex-players out there with some forthright opinions (hello Ian Botham), but to actually come out and call your captain crap just over a week before the first ashes test is genius! My guess is that it won’t affect Ponting, he probably already knows what people think about him now as he’s been captain of Australia long enough, but still, hardly a good vote of confidence!

Over the weekend it was in the papers and well rumoured that Michael Vaughan would retire from cricket this week. It’s a shame to see one of the best English players of recent times and one of the best English captains of all time call time on his career, but if there’s something that cricketers have, it’s that sense of timing about when to leave. With footballers it’s all to obvious and known quite in advance, with cricketers they are often playing for their country one minute and the next minute they announce retirement.

Vaughan hasn’t played for England since he relinquished the captaincy last year, and it wasn’t looking too likely that he would be getting back into the team. Maybe this meant he has lost his drive as I can imagine being a competitive professional you need to know you are doing something for a reason, and maybe Vaughan lost his reason.

He was the most successful captain England have had in terms of test wins, and I look forward to reading some knowledgeable pieces about him in the papers over the next few days from those that knew him well. Enjoy your retirement!

England’s pre-Ashes squad was announced today and there were two main things – No Harmy or Vaughan, and the inclusion of Rashid. On the first point, I said a while back I wanted Vaughan in the side, but he’s been playing county cricket without playing well enough to force the selectors to pick him in the squad, and Bell probably deserves his place in the squad. Harmy has done well, but I fear him letting us down on countless occasions when we expected big things from him has gone against him. Rashid coming in is exciting – he showed promise in the Twenty20 and it could be argued to give him a go ahead of Monty and alongside Swann. Monty has definately dropped down the pecking order over the last twelve months, maybe paying the price for not being multi-dimensional enough, but he gets a chance in the Lions team to play Australia prior to the first test.

I was impressed with the returning Sidebottom in the Twenty20, bowling with good pace and aggression which suggests his immediate injury problems are behind him. I still struggle to see him getting in the side though with Anderson, Broad, a fit Freddie and debut sensation Onions in front of him. Nothing too much to discuss on the batting side – its probably quite settled with Prior at 6, Freddie at 7 and Broad 8 in the lower middle order for me and I’d be quite confident going into the Ashes with that line up.

In just over 2 weeks time it’ll be time for the talking to finish and the action to start, I can’t wait…

We gave it a good go and at the point we got Gayle and then Bravo out I thought we were going through to the semi-finals – but Sarwan and Chanderpaul we too good lower down the order in a chase shortened to 9 overs. I’m relatively happy with the way we performed overall, we put in some good performances after the shock against Holland, beat the defending champions and generally entertained. Not sure that the team was exactly right but there’s always going to be discussion surrounding who should / shouldn’t be in the side. There’s definately room for improvement with the batting line up, I’m pleased Foster showed what a good keeper he is, and the bowlers all did pretty well, so the side is heading in the right direction.

Who will win out of the final four? South Africa will play and in my opinion beat, Pakistan to get through to the final to play the winner of Sri Lanka and West Indies. One that could go either way but I’m going for Sri Lanka. The winner? Not sure yet… give me a couple of days to mull it over..

So, aside from watching the end of the tournament as a neutral, we can start the build up to the Ashes! In just three weeks we’ll be underway and the remaining Aussies have made their way over to join up with those that were here for the Twenty20 tournament. The press will probably wait for the Twenty20 to finish before really starting to build the hype, England name a training group next Monday and then the thoughts will turn towards the team. With Freddie back bowling for Lancashire this past week we should be back up to full strength which is a huge boost and gives us options of the make up of the team. Team picking can wait for another blog post though!