"For us, knowing the stature he has in the game in
"Whenever he plays a game you get the feeling of the crowd getting involved and loving seeing him play.
"You can see the fans here are very passionate about watching Andrew Flintoff.
"If they know this is his last chance to play here, his last chance to play Edgbaston, and last chance to play Headingley, I am sure there will be a bit of a circus around.
"It could be good for us if that is the case. It could create some distractions but that is not for us to worry about.
"I have been in teams when it has happened and it can be a distraction not only for the person involved but for the captain as well."
"They’re probably similar sort of figures in either side, culturally as well," said Ponting. "Everyone in
"We talked long and hard before that first Test match about what we could do to ensure it didn’t turn out to be a long farewell tour – but, as hard as we tried, sure enough it became very heavily focused on everything he did."
"He is obviously pretty sore, and understandably so, after the amount of overs he bowled last week," Ponting said. "It is probably the most overs he has bowled in a Test match, or any game, for five or six years.
"But the way I am reading things, they could go in with four quicks in this game anyway which might take a bit of the workload from him.
"If he didn’t have to complete the same number of overs they might be able to nurse him through."
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