England's chances hanging in the balance

Freddie Flintoff turned up for his last stand with the wrong script as England faltered on their Ashes mission.

From 114-1, England subsided to 307-8 in the final npower Test at the Oval, Flintoff contributing just seven before he fell to a horrible shot. And although they were unlucky to lose top scorer Ian Bell (72) and skipper Andrew Strauss (55) to no-balls, England's biggest failing of the series was again laid bare.

Bell admitted: "We've only scored one hundred, which isn't good enough at this stage of the series, and after the start we had, we're disappointed not to be in a slightly better position.

"Of course I'm upset I didn't go on and get a hundred, but it's not a typical Oval wicket. It was tricky early on, I had to graft it out and be prepared to play some ugly cricket at times.