As Andrew Flintoff battles to find form with bat and ball for the start of this year's Ashes series, the curtain on this summer was drawn on another of England's heroes from 2005, Simon Jones.
Jones, 31 at the end of this year, has been ruled out for the rest of the English summer after succumbing to yet another knee injury.
Out of contract at the end of the season, Jones may find it hard to win a new deal given his history of injury woes, though he stressed his latest setback was not career-ending.
Worcestershire, Jones' county side, had been expecting the paceman to be fit for the second half of the season following surgery on his left knee in April.
Although his cartilage has successfully regenerated, he still requires more time off to repair bone damage.
Jones' ability to find reverse swing in the 2005 Ashes series, where he claimed 18 wickets at 21, was a major reason for England regaining the urn.
Jones has not played for England since the fourth Test of that series.
Flintoff, however, appears increasingly likely to face Australia for the series-opener in Cardiff on July 8.
The all-rounder has completed two back-to-back first-class matches for Lancashire earlier this week after an operation in late April to repair a knee injury suffered while playing in the IPL.
Encouragingly for England, Flintoff has taken eight wickets at an average of nearly 25 and bowled more than 50 overs in his comeback.
His form with the bat, however, has been inauspicious, managing scores of three, zero, 12 and 54.
Remarkably, for a player regarded as the finest all-rounder in the world and who is likely to bat at No.6 in the first Test, Flintoff is without a century from his past 67 first-class innings.
Since making a ton in the fourth Test against Australia in 2005, Flintoff has scored 1587 runs at an average of 26.45.
Flintoff's form worries aside Australia is bracing itself for another battle with its conqueror from 2005.
"It's a huge Test series and you want your players to be 100 percent fit but unfortunately the game we play, you play a lot of games when you're not 100 percent," said Australia vice-captain Michael Clarke.
"Individually, especially somebody like Andrew Flintoff, he knows his body better than anybody so I'm pretty sure if he feels like he can perform at his best he'll take the field."
"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't to anything to jeopardise the team or let the team down. He's not that type of guy at all."
