Flintoff should be fit for Oval Test

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The all-rounder missed the fourth Test at Headingley due to injury but is set to return for the match which England must win to regain the Ashes. According to the ECB, Flintoff will be ready for The Oval contest providing he carries on with ongoing treatment and takes sufficient rest.

An ECB statement said: "The advice received was that the swelling in his knee has significantly eased following the decision by the England management team to rest him from the last Test match and that subject to further rest and intensive treatment, he will be available for selection for the fifth npower Ashes Test at The Brit Oval."

Flintoff's Lancashire colleague James Anderson is also expected to be fit for the series decider, after a scan on his hamstring showed no serious damage.

If the news had been bad for Flintoff, and he had been ruled out of The Oval clash, that would have meant an early end to his Test career.

The 31-year-old announced earlier this summer he would be retiring from the five-day game at the end of the Ashes series, and he should now have the chance to go out in a blaze of glory.

Flintoff looked to be struggling badly during the closing stages of the third Test at Edgbaston, and Australia captain Ricky Ponting was quick to fasten on to the possibility England's talisman was flagging in the series.

Flintoff was ready to play at Headingley, his agent Andrew Chandler has stated, but was told he would not be included in the team.