Flintoff urges England to emulate Australia

London:

England retired Test all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has asked his teammates to follow in the footsteps of arch-rival Australia and back their Ashes success with more wins if they desire to dominate world cricket.

"If lessons can be learned from the past, it's that now is the time to try and dominate the world of cricket as a Test team," Flintoff was quoted as saying in the Guardian.

"Enjoy this week, celebrate, get it out of your system and then move on, almost be Australia-like in the way that they've gone about it.

"They've won series in the past and they've continued to beat people," he added.

At six feet and four inches, the 31-year-old may not come across as an emotional person but Flintoff said he had his teary moments after the Oval Test.

"I didn't think I'd get emotional but I did a little bit," said Flintoff, who quit Test cricket to concentrate his on one-day career.

"I sat in my corner in the place where I always sit at The Oval, on the left in the corner with all my kit everywhere.

"All the lads were jumping around and I just sat there and it was a teary moment. I saw one of the Sky Sports cameras hovering round the dressing room and I thought, 'no one's seeing me crying'.

"I nipped into the toilets and gave myself a minute, pulled myself together and got on with the job of celebrating," Flintoff added.

He said after the Oval Tests he spent time with his Australian counterparts.

"We caught up in the dressing room afterwards. I was fortunate enough last night to have a chat with Ricky Ponting and then Michael Clarke and sat around with Peter Siddle for a while," Flintoff said.

"It's strange because the Australian team I don't know that well. You play against them and they come at you hard, but it lets you get to know the person after a series like that.

"That's one of the great things about this game we play, there's a lot of respect off the field as well," he added.