Flintoff made a terrible mistake declaring in the Second Test. He should have kept batting even if England had run up 1000 runs. The longer England batted, the longer McGrath and Warne would have had to stay out in that heat. Instead, England folded in the second innings and became the first team to declare with 550 in the first innings and lose.
Of course, batting longer would have only resulted in a draw, since England had no clue how to take wickets.
Yes, but a draw wouldn't have hurt England as they were only down 1-0 at that point. Going down 2-0 with three tests to play was a killer.