Andrew Flintoff rages against the dying of the light for the final time in a Test match this week with his indomitable will no longer able to compensate for the frailties of the flesh.
Flintoff, 31, has gone through his paces at the nets this week with his right knee heavily bound, the latest in a long line of dismaying injuries which have persuaded him to call time on his Test career.
After the deciding Ashes Test starting on Thursday, Flintoff will play one-day cricket only for his country after a career which started slowly, blossomed gloriously in the 2005 Ashes series then went into steady decline as injuries took their toll.
For two seasons under the sympathetic captaincy of Michael Vaughan, Flintoff was an all-rounder of genuine world class able to command a place as batsman or bowler in a strong England side.
Like Keith Miller and Ian Botham before him, Flintoff was a cricketer with instant appeal to the spectators.
His bowling action was never a thing of beauty but his massive frame and height enabled him to bowl consistently fast to the discomfit of a generation of batsmen who found him a consistently more difficult proposition than his statistics would suggest.
PERFECT TIMING
At the crease his footwork was sometimes uncertain but when his eye was in his strength and essentially orthodox method enabled him to score quickly without taking undue risks.
He was also, like Miller and Botham, a sure-handed slip fielder.
With perfect timing, Flintoff reached his peak in the heady summer of 2005, scoring 402 runs and taking 24 wickets as England regained the Ashes after 16 years.
Then came the injuries and a brief spell as national captain, during which Australia took a brutal revenge for 2005 by beating England 5-0 at home.
With one Test to come, Flintoff's overall statistics are modest by the highest standards, with 3,816 runs at 32.06 and 225 wickets at 32.59 going into Thursday's Test.
But his contributions went far beyond figures as England captain Andrew Strauss outlined on Wednesday.
"Do you rate somebody purely by their statistics?," Strauss said. "I don't believe you do. You rate them by contributions to team victories and to the game of cricket. In these two senses, Freddie was a massive player."
Flintoff, who bowled England to their first victory over Australia at Lord's for the first time since 1934 this year, took time out this week to evaluate his career.
"I'm not big about thinking of the past," he told reporters. "But I'm proud that I've played for England, proud of some of the performances and proud that I've been involved in a winning side for a period of time.
"If someone had said when I was 20 that I would play 70-odd test matches for England I'd have snapped their arm off."
