The confirmation that AndrewFlintoff is quitting Test cricket at the end of the current Ashes series should surprise no-one.

For much of the last decade, the towering Lancastrian has suffered a series of strains and niggles, muscle tears and ligament problems, all of them borne with a resilience which testified to his determination to prove his doubters wrong at the highest level of the game.

Sadly, though, Flintoff is now 31 and, as he admitted yesterday, his body is telling him that it's time for a rest. Whereas in 2005, he emerged as one of the leading lights of England's stunning Ashes triumph, nowadays some of his joie de vivre has gone, along with the apparently limitless reserves of energy which used to mean that his captains have always had to prise the ball away from him.

That enthusiasm has not dissipated but, as was demonstrated during last week's first Test in Cardiff, Flintoff is not the force he was four years ago. His bowling is still accurate, and he nags away at opponents like the toothache, but there is no longer the sheer pace to rip through teams which once made him an automatic selection for his country.

On the contrary, as Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting, Marcus North, Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin showed, in their various fashions, on an unresponsive Welsh wicket, Flintoff lacked penetration. Indeed, the record books generally don't lie and it is a revealing statistic that he hasn't managed a five-wicket Test haul since 2005.

Yet Flintoff remains such a pivotal part of England's plans that yesterday's news leaves his selectors with significant travails for the remainder of the Ashes contest. In his absence, and with Stuart Broad coming nowhere near to emulating Freddie's achievements at this stage of his career, the side lacks batting depth without somebody such as Ian Bell entering the equation.

However, if the hosts plump for an extra batsman, with Matt Prior coming in at No.7, one suspects they will be toiling to take 20 Australian wickets, especially if they persist with Broad. It is what Sherlock Holmes used to regard as a "three-pipe problem", but, whatever their decision, England are going to have to make the best of a bad job.

If Flintoff was anywhere near 100% fit, he would be a certainty to be picked. If he is only 70% or 80%, though, his team could be in serious trouble if he sustains another injury. And isn't his announcement an admission, in any case, that he knows the game is up and that he won't recapture the form which earned him such distinction?

It is a mark of the respect in which the Australians regard Flintoff that they will view yesterday's news with a mixture of relief and scepticism, privately convinced that, for as long as the all-rounder is pulling on his whites, he will be a dangerous foe, capable of at least one or two more acts of devastation.

In that respect, England might be better letting him recover properly for the third Test and then granting him a licence to thrill. Heaven knows, he has performed heroics enough in the past to be spared the knacker's yard in the future.