Andrew Flintoff wants to shrug off his knee injury and begin the long farewell at Lord's today after confirming that he will retire from Test cricket at the end of the Ashes series.

Flintoff insisted that the timing of the announcement will not hinder England's prospects of regaining the urn over the next four npower Tests. Andrew Strauss, the captain, agreed and said that now the announcement had been made, Flintoff would “want to end with a bang”.

But Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, believes that Flintoff's departure “could become a circus” and is highly likely to distract the home side over the coming weeks.

Flintoff, 31, took the decision after increasing struggles against injury and said: “For my own sanity and my family's, I cannot keep playing games just here and there. I have to recognise where my body is for Test cricket.”

He will continue playing one-day internationals and for Lancashire, plus Twenty20 cricket with Chennai Super Kings, the Indian Premier League franchise that paid $1.55million (now about £945,000) for his services. Chennai hope that he will play throughout the tournament next March and April.

The last straw for Flintoff was a recurrence of trouble in his right knee last week during the first Test in Cardiff, where he bowled 35 of the 181 overs in Australia's only innings.

He had three injections on Monday, a sign of his and England's desperation to get him through the second Test at Lord's, but bowled at practice yesterday and is optimistic of playing.

England also declared that Kevin Pietersen is “fit and available” after having an injection on Tuesday to ease his continuing Achilles tendon trouble. Ian Bell, the reserve batsman, has been released from the squad.

But it was Flintoff who dominated talk yesterday. Defending the decision to reveal his intentions now rather than at the end of the series, he said: “I want to get it out there so everybody knows and all the speculation can end.

“It is not something I thought of overnight. Most of the lads have known for a few weeks what I have been thinking. I have had four ankle operations, my body is telling me things and now I am starting to listen.

“I still feel that I can play a major role in the series in the next four games. With so many injuries, coming back does get harder. Putting an England shirt back on was always the motivation, but looking at the Test schedule coming up, realistically I would not get through it.”

Flintoff broke the news to team-mates on Tuesday evening and gave a team talk before practice yesterday, but Strauss said that players were not taken entirely by surprise.

“We had a feeling this was coming sooner rather than later,” Strauss said. “It looked like something had to give and this seemed the logical thing to do.

“I do not think it will hinder the team. Having come out with this, he will want to end with a bang. I hope he finishes in the style that befits him with some big performances and good stories at the end of the summer.”

The Australia team watched footage of Flintoff's announcement on their team bus during the journey from their hotel to Lord's for practice.

Ponting drew comparisons to the decision of Steve Waugh to announce before the drawn home series against India in 2003-04 that he would retire immediately afterwards.

“If Flintoff ends up playing the remainder of this series then I'm sure there will be some outside distractions for England to deal with whether or not Andrew wanted it that way,” Ponting said. “Fans are very passionate about him. If they know it is his last chance here and at Edgbaston, Headingley and the Oval then I am sure there will be a bit of a circus around it.

“We talked long and hard about not making it a farewell tour for Steve, but as hard as we tried and he tried not to make it that way, it became very heavily focused on everything he did.”

Flintoff wants to play the shorter form beyond the 2011 World Cup and hinted at trying to feature as far down the track as the 2015 tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

He is sure to be remembered for the 2005 Ashes. “I would like my career to have kicked on, but being a professional rehabber makes it difficult,” he said.

Strauss described as “dramatic” Flintoff's impact on English cricket but backed younger players such as James Anderson and Stuart Broad to take the team forward. “I think we have already shown that there is life after ‘Fred',” Strauss said. “I have never believed that we are a one-man team.”