At the age of 31, England's talismanic all-rounder has had to admit his injury-ravaged body cannot stand up to the rigours of the five-day game and, if he wanted to continue playing the sport he loved at the highest level, he had to make a harsh decision.

He has opted for the shorter form of the game, one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches in the lucrative Indian Premier League once this Ashes series has finished.

Flintoff believes he could continue playing for England for the next four years and beyond, if his body lets him.

In the end Flintoff was almost half an hour late meeting the throngs of journalists who had packed into the Brian Johnston Film Theatre inside the Lord's Museum.

But the burly Lancastrian looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders by announcing the news.

He was in a philosophical mood rather than looking emotional, a complete contrast to former England captain Michael Vaughan, who was extremely tearful when he announced he was quitting the Test arena.

In the 13-minute news conference, kept tight by England and Wales Cricket Board media manager Andrew Walpole, Flintoff spoke about how he had been mulling over the decision for a while and had not just thought suddenly about quitting overnight.

However with his problematic knee, which had been operated on at the start of the year, flaring up again during the drawn first Ashes Test at Cardiff and needing pain-killing injections, Flintoff decided it was time to listen to his body.

"I've been a professional rehabber for two years," he said. "There is relief in announcing it but sadness in acknowledging it."

Flintoff had sought advice from legendary England all-rounder and his childhood hero Sir Ian Botham, Vaughan, Ashley Giles and his physio Dave Roberts. He said the England squad had known about the situation for a few weeks.

But he is desperate to go out on a high and is aiming to play in the final four Tests against Australia this summer, "I'd do anything to play in those next four," he said although he could not even guarantee if he would be fit enough to start on Thursday.

Flintoff's larger than life character and his heroics during the 2005 Ashes win, in which he won the Man of the Series award for taking a staggering 24 wickets and amassing 402 runs, endeared him to the British public.

Most even saw the funny side when he was "worse for wear" at the subsequent official celebration parade through London.

But his actual Test statistics - 76 Tests so far, 219 wickets and 3708 runs at an average of 31.69 were hardly the most impressive as he aimed to become the best England all-rounder since Botham.

But Flintoff, who can barely remember his stats, is more about blood and guts passion and inspiring his team-mates, and scaring the hell out of the opposition, rather than playing for his average.

Cricket has been in his blood and as a baby his mother Susan used to wheel him around the boundary ropes in his pram while his dad Colin was playing club cricket in Preston.

He flourished in the game despite it not being on the curriculum at his school, Ribbleton Hall High.

His cricket potential was obvious at a young age and he made his debut for St Annes fourth XI at the age of 13 and the first team a year later, becoming the youngest player in the Northern League.

But even as a youngster he struggled with injury and at the age of 16 had to stop bowling for a number of months because of back problems.

He made his Lancashire debut in 1995 at the age 18 and played his first Test for England, against South Africa at Trent Bridge, in 1998.

But injuries started to rear their ugly head on his 6ft 4ins frame again in 1999 when he broke his foot during a Test in Cape Town and his career has been blighted by them ever since, having undergone four ankle operations and a knee operation.

Flintoff said he "can't grumble too much" about his Test career which spanned 11 years after claiming he was "rubbish" when he first starting playing at the highest level - a remark which drew loud laughs from the journalists.

England are certainly going to miss this no nonsense northern lionheart who played like a man possessed in the Test arena.

But he believes if his body holds up, his best cricket is yet to come - what a scary thought for the opposition.

On 8 July the battle between England and Australia begins in Cardiff, but will it be an epic contest like the 2005 series which felt like two heavyweight boxers slugging it out for 12 rounds?

Time will tell but what is not in doubt is both England and Australia have undergone major transformations since then.

Australia have been in England for more than a month and after being unexpectedly dumped out of the ICC World Twenty20 at the group stage, they have had rather more lead-up time to the summer's main fare than they would have liked.

But it has given them the chance to do a bit of sightseeing "visiting castles, that kind of stuff" and going to the theatre, as well as a handful of the squad watching rock band the Kings of Leon in London, or sampling the delights of tennis at Queen's Club.

There have also been very competitive golf days at The Belfry and Forest of Arden, with Ricky Ponting, who plays off just a two handicap, proving a success with a club in his hand too.

The squad was certainly in good spirits during the media day held at Sussex CCC's ground at Hove.

National and international broadcasters and writers had time to chat with each member of the 16-man squad as well as coach Tim Nielsen.

And you could tell by which tables were crowded and which ones were empty as to who journalists believed were going to be the important players this summer and those who were simply making up the numbers.

Poor Graham Manou (who?). The uncapped 30-year-old back-up wicketkeeper, nicknamed Choc, spent almost all his set 30 minutes twiddling his thumbs while at the other end of the scale, it's a pretty strong bet that fast bowler-cum-all-rounder Mitchell Johnson could have a big say in deciding the series. His table was swamped by journalists wanting to know all about his new-found inswing to right-handers as well as his purple patch with the bat.

With his pierced-tongue and gelled hair, he certainly looked a cool customer but Johnson appeared genuinely surprised at all the attention he was getting, pleading: "I'm not that interesting!"

Another popular interviewee was Hauritz, who is Australia's only dedicated spin bowler in the squad.

He knows there is a lot of pressure on his shoulders to fill such big boots as Warne's and fully expects Kevin Pietersen to be "running down the pitch" to him.

But Hauritz, who has played in four Tests so far, says he is confident in his own ability and went as far as to predict he could play a "big part in the Ashes".

Four years ago he was playing club cricket for Nelson, near James Anderson's stomping ground Burnley, in the Lancashire leagues as the dramatic series was unfolding.

"After the first Test, I was very chirpy, but then it went downhill from there. Both teams were so evenly matched, it was an awesome series," he recalls.

Another who has finally been given the chance is wicketkeeper Haddin, who waited for years for Gilchrist to retire.

He was philosophical about being an understudy for so long saying: "If my time never arrived, I could've lived with that. But thankfully Adam retired when he did."
But he is under no illusion how big a deal this series is: "Growing up in Australia it's always been the Ashes for me. It's the ultimate icon series."

So Australia are confident and chomping at the bit and cannot wait for the two warm-up matches against Sussex and then England Lions to be over so they get on with the real job in hand - defending the Ashes urn.

And although they are a relatively inexperienced side, they managed to beat South Africa on their travels and certainly have their tails up.

This summer new legends will be born, but who they are and on which team they will hail from are the tantalising questions.

I was acting sports editor of the Blackpool Gazette when a young whipper-snapper called Andrew Flintoff was making waves at St Annes and saw him make his debut for Lancashire in 1995.

Reagrding playing cricket, I am not a very good batsmen or bowler but a very good fielder and played rounders in a county league.

It doesn't help that they have just played each other on the other side of the world and ticket sales have reflected this.

There will still be a limited number of tickets on sale on the day but the MCC spokesman ensures me it will be "near to capacity" for the first three day's play.

So there should be a crowd of well over 20,000 to witness Michael Vaughan's England take on Daniel Vettori's New Zealand.

Vaughan says England will be aiming to win in convincing fashion, even without Andrew Flintoff, and called the Kiwis a "workmanlike" team.

He admits he is under pressure to make runs with the bat and has pushed Andrew Strauss up to opener with himself dropping down to three.

Vettori is well aware of the underdog tag his side has, with two debutants Aaron Redmond and Daniel Flynn, in the team and admits "we will need to be on top of our game all of the time if we are going to be successful".

The last time England beat New Zealand at home was the catalyst to a very successful couple of years which culminated in the Ashes success in 2005 - so England fans will be hoping history repeats itself.

It may be the day before the game but Lord's has been buzzing with last-minute preparation as the caterers bring in all the beer, champagne and pies they will need while sponsors tents have also gone up.

The groundsmen have been working on the pitch and the wicket since 9am and were still going around with a lawnmower at 4pm.

And it's not just the pitch which has undergone meticulous preparation, every bit of grass around the ground has been mowed, weeds removed and flower beds packed full of red and white flowers symbolising the colours of England.

Lord's has seen many cricketing legends come and go - and there were a few here on Wednesday, the likes of Steve Waugh and Courtney Walsh, who were attending in their capacities as members of the MCC world cricket committee.

All had fond memories of playing at the home of cricket and agreed it had a special place in their hearts.

It's now time for new legends to be made.

The excitement is building...bring it on!

But a new international Twenty20 league, the Indian Premier League, has raised the stakes even higher with $800m (£411m) being spent on TV rights for a 59-game tournament in April, featuring eights teams comprising many of the world's top stars and young Indian players.

On Wednesday in Mumbai, the hotly contested auction for the players was held and hundreds of millions of dollars were flying around in a secure bidding process to capture the services of cricketers such as Mahendra Dhoni, who went to Chennai for $1.5m (£771,000), Australia's Andrew Symonds, who cost Hyderabad $1.35m (£694,000), and Sri Lanka veteran Sanath Jayasuriya, who Mumbai forked out $975,000 (£500,000) for.

It was like a high stakes fantasy cricket game with Monopoly money all rolled into one - except it was for real...

Although thousands of miles away in London, it was not hard to sense the excitement and chaos that was happening in India as we tried to convey this huge cricket story.

As we tried to get hold of BBC contacts, they could hardly hear us on their mobile telephones because of the din being made by hundreds of fans and 300 journalists who had turned up to the auction.

And there was a real sense of anticipation as every so often, an IPL spokesman appeared from behind the closed doors to announce how much players had been sold for in the latest round of bidding.

BBC reporter Prachi Pinglay said: "The eight franchisees were in a huge room and exchanged smiles and greetings but the bidding was fiercely competitive.

"While the players were bought and sold at sometimes astronomical, sometimes at reserve base prices, it was the media centre that was stormy.

"With over 300 media persons from national as well as international press, the media frenzy compensated for any absence of fans for the Bollywood biggies."

Shahrukh Khan, a first time bidder who bought nine players - including Ishant Sharma for a whopping $950, 000 - told the press that by the end of the day he was almost getting addicted to bidding. He said the atmosphere at the auction was full of comraderie.

And liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who bought eight players - including Jacques Kallis at $900,000 - felt that everyone got what they wanted.

The BBC's Rahul Tandon was also in the thick of the action and he told 5 Live the start of the auction had been delayed because the amount of fans and media outside meant that the rich businessmen and Bollywood stars who own the franchises could not get into the room on time.

The police were also called to quell the crowds which had gathered.

Tandon said: "The amount Dhoni went for was extraordinary as his list price was $400,000 but all eight teams wanted him and there was a bidding war.

"There is money coming to cricket here like the game has never seen before."

India was slow to embrace Twenty20 cricket initially but that all changed when they won the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September and interest in the shortest format of the game suddenly exploded.

The Board for the Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) was then quick to catch on to the money that could be made and has hastily arranged the IPL, with the International Cricket Council's blessing.

"Cricket is not just a sport here, it's a business. This is one of the world's fastest growing economies. If you want to get into this country with your product then get a cricket player to endorse it," Tandon added.

England cricket fans can be forgiven for the IPL passing them by so far as no England players are involved in it because it clashes with the start of the county season and the English Test summer.

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is currently in India with the England Lions team as he continues his comeback from a fourth ankle operation and he has been amazed by the frenzy the IPL has generated.

He said: "It's hard not to follow it because it's in all the newspapers and television over here.

"But the IPL itself is not something I'm particularly interested in because it clashes with our English season."

Other players, including former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming and all-rounder Scott Syris have announced their retirements in order to be able to play in the IPL.

And in the future, could the IPL's money talk even more?

The BCCI could ultimatey try to persuade the ICC to introduce a break in the international calendar to avoid direct competition with national boards and the England and Wales Cricket Board could have its arm twisted to allow England players to go.

But the ICC said on Wednesday the Future Tours Programme was sorted until 2012.

A spokesman for the Bangalore team said they would dearly love a player such as Kevin Pietersen in future seasons as he would be a big draw.

It will be very interesting to see what the next chapter in this new cricket phenomenon will bring.