FACTBOX - England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff

(Reuters) - England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, 31, is to retire from test cricket at the end of the Ashes series against Australia because of persistent injury problems, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Wednesday.

Here are some details about the life and career of Flintoff:

* LIFE DETAILS AND EARLY CAREER:

-- Flintoff was born in Dec. 1977 in Preston, England. He made his first class English county cricket debut for Lancashire in 1995 aged 18.

-- He represented England for the first time at test level against South Africa in Nottingham, England in July 1998.

* CAREER HIGHS:

-- Following an inconsistent opening to his international career, he knocked his highest career test score of 167 against West Indies at Edgbaston in July 2004 and recorded career best bowling figures of 5-58 in subsequent tour in Antigua.