AAP

IT was the perfect handing over of the torch.

Playing his last Test, injury-ravaged Andrew Flintoff leaves England cricket in good hands and, while the allrounder was below his best during his team's Ashes-clinching victory at The Oval, he wasn't about to bow out without one last flicker of the flame.

His direct hit from mid-on to dismiss a threatening Ricky Ponting for 66 was pivotal at a time when the hosts had just begun to allow the fear to creep into their minds that Australia might pull off a near-impossible escape.

England captain Andrew Strauss agreed that the dismissal was pure Flintoff.

"We needed a moment of inspiration and we weren't quite sure where it was going to come from, but you can't keep Fred out of the game," Strauss said.

"That was an unbelievable bit of fielding that just set us in motion again."

Like his batting cameo the day before - a quickfire 22 as debutant Jonathan Trott starred with a century - Flintoff's feat formed part of a bigger picture as he was able to say farewell having won the Ashes twice on English soil.

And with newcomers like potential successor Stuart Broad, whose five-wicket haul in Australia's first innings virtually put the result beyond doubt, there are suggestions the team will continue their success without the 31-year-old allrounder.

Always praised for playing the game in the right spirit, Flintoff walked straight over to shake hands with the Australian batsmen as his team-mates huddled in a tight circle celebrating after Mike Hussey (121) became the last wicket to fall, leaving Ben Hilfenhaus (4) not out.

Flintoff will undergo exploratory arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Tuesday and miss the one-day series against Australia and September's Champions Trophy.

"Obviously he won't be playing Test cricket for us again, which is a very, very sad thing but clearly his body just can't take it anymore," Strauss said.

"He'll be desperate to contribute any way he can for England going forward.

"That means in 50-over cricket and 20-over cricket, but the most important thing is that he's able to get his body in good shape again so he needs to take whatever steps are necessary in order to do that ... it must be soul destroying.

"It must be very, very hard to have to go through that, but when you're there on the field and you've won an Ashes series it makes it worthwhile and there'll be some great times in his career going forward I'm sure."