Ponting wants his team to forget about Flintoff's retirement

London, July 16 (ANI): Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has told his team not to lose focus in the wake of Andrew Flintoff's retirement announcement.

"Whenever he plays ... you can see that the fans here are very passionate about watching Andrew Flintoff play. If they know that it's his last chance to play here and at Edgbaston and Headingley, then I'm sure there'll be a bit of a circus around it. If that is the case, it will create some distractions, but that's not for us to worry about," Ponting was quoted, as saying.

Ponting said Flintoff's raw Test numbers of 3708 runs at 31.69 and 219 wickets at 32.51 didn't do justice to his value to a team.

"If you look through his bare statistics, they probably don't read that flatteringly, but as far as someone who has an impact on how a team plays and performs, then he's got to be right up there," he said.

"He seemed to be one of those guys that everyone enjoyed playing with. He played the game in great spirit, with everything he does he's always got a smile on his face," Ponting said. (ANI)