Freddie Flintoff

Some may not even have him in their list of great Cricketers; forget about terming him as the greatest. Cynics look at his numbers and claim he is not great, but they fail to understand that numbers are mere NUMBERS.

"If you were to list the top three bowlers in world cricket that batsmen don't want to face, Fred is going to be on that list and probably at the top of it. No one enjoys facing him and sometimes he doesn't get his just rewards for the hostility he bowls with," Strauss. These words from his Captain perfectly sum up what Freddie has done for the game. Flintoff bowls with a big heart which is quite unlikely for a bowler who easily touches the 90 mph with his accurate bowling. He is one bowler who is always at the batsman and never lets the batsman relax.

Freddie the batsman is nothing less than threatening. The name itself strikes terror amidst the bowlers and his hard hitting abilities has always been useful lower down in the otherwise meek English batting line-up.

Let me share some the incidents which I remember of Freddie (in colors) against India.

1999 WC tie (The 2day ODI match)

The match was all but over when the English were reduced for 80 odd for 4 when the rain Gods interrupted play. The only saving grace for the second day of the ODI match was the presence of the 6’4’’ English all-rounder. Flintoff did not disappoint his fans as he hovered Kumble for a monstrous hit. Kumble did get his revenge by trapping Flintoff LBW.

2007, Bristol

Flintoff bowled a peach of a delivery to get Sachin out for 99. A great short pitch delivery which raised and hit Sachin’s elbow. Though it was a bad decision on Gould’s part, the delivery was indeed special. This after dismissing Ganguly for a patient 39 and breaking a century opening partnership. Freddie did stop there. He came back to bowl the final overs and got Dinesh Karthik plumb in front. He also got a couple of wickets of the final over to get to his first 5 wicket haul in ODIs.

2007 T20 WC tie

Flintoff ended the match as the second most economic bowler and came into bat only during the 18^th over. The importance of this match lies in the 19^th over which set up the Indians to go on and win the World Cup. Flintoff sledged Yuvraj during the 18^th over of the match which he bowled. As they say, they say the rest is history. Yuvraj vented his frustration by hitting the 21 year old Broad consecutive times over the rope. The first full monty in T20s. The helpless reaction on Flintoff’s face remains as one of the images of Freddie which a lot of the Indian Cricket fans remember. Flintoff did return to bowl the final over and dismiss a fully agitated Yuvraj Singh.

Stint as Captain

The biggest honor for any Cricketer would be to lead his Nation in whites and Freddie did get that opportunity when Vaughan’s knee injury reoccurred in India and he was asked to fly back to England. With Trescothick flying back home for personal reasons and one of Ashes heroes Jones after twisting his knee, Flintoff did a great job in leading a young team with 3 debutants. The English managed to draw the test series in India. The English ended the series with a whopping 212 runs victory against the hosts which is their highest victory margin in India.

Flintoff did manage to draw his only home series as Captain against the English but had no clue when he led his side in the Ashes in Australia. The Australian juggernaut rolled over the English with an embarrassing 5-0 victory over the hosts.

The Leader

“In every organization there is an officially designated Leader and then someone who plays the role of a Leader. Just by their sheer presence, they become the people to watch” said Harsha Bhogle about Sachin. Freddie has been the same for the English team. The first match in West Indies after being all out for 51, Flintoff pleaded to his team mates, “Help your mates out”. The team did respond in the next matches, where England came as close as one wicket to victory. He sealed the ODI series with his first hat-trick in international Cricket.

Forgetful IPL season

On February 6^th 2009, Andrew Flintoff became the highest paid Cricketer in IPL when he was bought by the Chennai Super Kings for USD 1.55 million in a bid where they won against the Rajastan Royals final bid of USD 1.5 million. Flintoff fit the bill perfectly for the Super Kings as the punch line for the team is “Fearless Entertainers”.

Flintoff started his disappointing IPL when he was hit for 44 runs in his first match. The disappointing series ended in the same manner as he when he was hit for 50 runs in his final match. He was not able to make up for the bad start to the series as he flew home midway because of the torn meniscus in his right knee. He played only 3 matches and ended up with an economy rate close to 10.

Disciplinary issues

Superstars and controversies go hand in hand. Flintoff has been no exception but had crossed the line many a times outside the Cricket field with the recent incident being the one in Belgium where he had missed the team bus. The team management has rubbished the issue saying that this was just an “alarm failure” issue. In 2007 Flintoff was caught speeding near Liverpool but was later cleared using the loopholes in the system.

The biggest hour of shame was when Flintoff was caught for boozing during the world cup with 4 other team-mates on a stolen pedalo. The incident forced the English management to strip Freddie of the vice-captain post and drop him from the side. This famous episode is termed as “Fredalo” and has hit the headlines in the English media.

Injuries

Ever since his return from South Africa in 1999 with a broken foot, Flintoff’s tryst with injuries hasn’t ended. He had undergone surgeries in his back, shoulder and ankle in the last decade.

Flintoff has been dropped from the 4^th test because of his knee injury. Fans of test cricket can only wish and pray that he gets fit for the final test in the Ashes so that we can experience those exhilarating feel of seeing Freddie bowl with his whites.

Hard and Fair

One of the best gestures in the recent past was when Freddie went to a disappointed Lee and consoled him at the end of the Edgbaston test. When the Aussies celebration after the Sydney test where Clark got the 3 wickets of the final over and the Indian team’s behavior after the T20 finals are termed as victory celebrations, here is a man who kneeled down to console his counterpart after 4 days of test Cricket. His gesture towards Yuvraj after the WC T20 clash makes me to say that Freddie is one of those rarest Cricketers who play the game hard yet fair.

Cometh the hour, cometh the champion!!

The English had just scrapped through with a draw (Thanks to Paul, Monty and Anderson) in the 1^st Ashes test, 2009 at Cardiff. The series moved to Lords, where the English hasn’t won an Ashes test since 1934. Flintoff provided one of the best spells in modern day Cricket which prompted Simon Hughes of the Telegraph to write this "Andrew Flintoff the best I have ever seen at Lord's". The bowling on the final day had everything in it. Flintoff hit Clarke, who is one the fastest and busiest player in the current lot on his helmet and created havoc in the Australian minds. He cleaned up both the openers on the 4^th day of the test match and came back to break the 185 run partnership between Haddin and Clarke on the final day with his first over of the day. He also picked up his first 5 wicket haul in Lords. Thanks to his efforts, the English are sitting pretty on a 1-0 lead.

Flintoff’s liking towards Aussies isn’t surprising as he has already been the main architect of the English victory during the 2005 Ashes.

After being beaten comprehensively in the home of Cricket, England needed a miracle to revive their spirit. Thanks to Ricky Ponting’s infamous decision of putting the English to bat on the 1^st day. Though, the English were bowled out on the first day, they already had the required runs on the board with a run rate of over 5. Flintoff got a half century in each of the innings with 5 sixes in the first innings and 4 sixes in the second. He wasn’t done yet, as he picked up 3 and 4 wickets in the first and the second innings respectively.

Freddie’s bowling was great right from the start where got the first two wickets and put the Aussies under tremendous pressure. He came back to break a frustrating 45 run stand for the 9^th wicket. Not surprisingly he was awarded the man of the match for his effort and suddenly what was supposed to be yet another somber series has turned on its head to be seen as one of the best Ashes ever.

As the teams moved on to Nottingham with the series tied at 1-1, Flintoff got the better of the Aussies yet again, this time with the bat. Flintoff smashed all the bowlers and scored a brilliant century before he was dismissed by the debutant, Tait. Flintoff’s heroics along with the bowlers brilliance made sure that the Australians followed on for the first time since 1988-89. Freddie got the man of the match and took the English one more step closer to the Ashes.

The English went on to win the Ashes and Freddie won the Player of the series and deservingly so.

This was the first time since the Botham’s Ashes in 1981 that an all-rounder has dominated the Ashes with both the bat and ball.

Of the 6 Player of the match awards against his name, 3 of them have come against the Aussies. This staggering figure explains Flintoff’s greatness to rise to the occasion.

Comparisons with the greats

Kallis and Pollock may be termed as the best batting and bowling all-rounders of this generation based on their numbers. What these numbers don’t tell is the impact on the game. If is also taken into account, Flintoff does stand tall amidst his counterparts in this generation and as the sole contender who could be compared with Botham, Kapil, Hadlee and Imran.

Come 20^th, we get to see the final of the Ashes where we get one last chance to see the greatest all-rounder in whites. Test Cricket would miss one of its favorite son who has always played the game hard and fair!!