Flintoff aiming for final Ashes twist

Andrew Flintoff is all set for one last huge effort in Test cricket but England are likely to need much more than a one-man show if they are to recapture the Ashes from Australia in the series climax.

England head into the fifth and final Test here at the Oval starting Thursday, with the series all square at 1-1.

But unlike four years ago when, with Flintoff at the peak of his powers, they arrived at the south London ground 2-1 up against Australia, now they must win to regain the Ashes while the tourists need only a draw to retain them.

Top-order batting has been England's major weak spot this series, with only captain Andrew Strauss making a century for the hosts in the four Tests played so far compared to seven individual hundreds for Australia.

Spirited lower-order resistance helped paper over the cracks but England, who ever since Kevin Pietersen was ruled out after the second Test with an Achilles injury, have looked vulnerable to a batting collapse.

And so it proved at Headingley where in the fourth Test, with Flintoff ruled out because of fears the fast bowling all-rounder's suspect right knee would not last the game, England were twice dismissed cheaply. Australia won by an innings and 80 runs to level the series, a win that bolstered Ricky Ponting's chances of avoiding becoming the first Australia captain in over a century to lose two Ashes series in England.

Flintoff is now set to return while South Africa born Jonathan Trott is in line for a Test debut after struggling No 3 Ravi Bopara paid for a series of batting failures by being dropped. A movie script might have both Flintoff, whose knee problem has convinced him to retire from Test cricket at the end of this series after a career blighted by injury, and Trott both making big scores. But the onus ought to be on the likes of under-performing top-order batsmen such as Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood. England must also decide how best to take the 20 wickets they need for victory.

LONDON, AFP