Andrew Flintoff: A True Allrounder
Andrew Flintoff was superhuman at his best and downright tragic to watch when injury struck. Here’s to one of the modern greats.
Wherever you call home, whomever you decide to follow, there is nothing but an air of respect and awe for when Andrew Flintoff’s name is mentioned. He’s probably destroyed your team at one stage or another.
There could be a multitude of Flintoff clips, pictures and highlights to put in this post, all of which would be justified to enter into this record of his career, but I’ll keep it just to a few of my favourites.
The gentleman and jovial character off the pitch became a mountain of testosterone fuelled devastation. The immense dichotomy that occurred at Edgbaston in 2005 is the best example of the kind of man he embodies. In short time, the angry and fired up bowler charging in at the Australian tailenders turned into a consoling and magnanimous victor, placing his hand on Brett Lee’s shoulder to comfort. Would the tables be the other way around if Kasprowicz didn’t get out and managed to score those 3 runs? We’ll never know, frankly the moment loses its lustre when you nitpick at it in that sense. What you take from it is the man-mountain who managed to place a vanquished foe’s feelings before the immediate joy of winning an Ashes Test on home soil.
To follow that up later in the same series with a passage of bowling at The Oval which was diabolical. 5 for 78, economy rate of 2.29 per over with 10 maidens. Who bowls spells like that anymore? Not only that but he made a defensive 72 in a 143 run stand with Andrew Strauss to keep England in the match. It stands out as one of the first great examples I’ve seen of an allrounder excelling in my limited cricket viewing history.
This immense spirit and raw power was on display again during the 2009 Ashes, where the beast re-emerged to quash Australian hopes of retaining the urn. Any right Australia placed on taking the Ashes back down under were thoroughly questioned by a rampaging 5-92 from Fred.
Then there’s the whalloping batsman, who cleared the fence and cut through the field with ease, and the impressive fielder that changed matches in an instant. 167 against the West Indies being his best Test score and example after example of the impact he’d make in the field. He was impressive all around, but the intimidation and mindgames he would exert on the opposition was textbook quality.
He was the master sledger of the English lineup. No one could throw down insults the way he did, whilst retaining what seemed to be an over all innocence about his involvement. Not afraid of anyone either was old Fred and made his presence felt whenever it seemed someone stepped out of line.
I don’t list any of his One-Day or Twenty20 accomplishments for the simple fact that they aren’t anywhere near as brilliant as what he did in the whites. Not to diminish those efforts, but he was at his best facing Australia gunning for the Ashes. Even in the disastrous 2006/2007 Ashes campaign in Australia, which he was forced to steer by himself, he was out there trying for his country at their lowest point. Not many other people on that tour can claim the same level of effort.
The worst of Flintoff were the constant injuries. A career definitely cut short by 5 years and 50 tests or more due to a string of niggles and strains. Even without those extra tests, it isn’t a blight against him, but it is a sore point for England fans to have their champion sidelined constantly. He would’ve been one of the first supreme gods of Twenty20 had his body held together I can guarantee that much.
So we salute to the end of a fine career. Well done Andrew, you are definitely a True Allrounder.
Andrew Flintoff
79 Tests, 141 ODIs, 7 T20Is
3845 Test runs at 31.77, career best score of 167
226 Test wickets at 32.78, career best figures of 5/58
3394 ODI runs, career best score of 123
169 ODI wickets, career best figures of 5/19
Jarrod Potter
Editor of the True Allrounder
Feature picture by RNLJC&M under Creative Commons
Whilst Flintoff was undoubtably a very good player, particularly in the 2005 & 2009 Ashes series in England, I can’t help but cringe when he is described as a ‘great’ player; which to me seems to be all too often.
In the later stages of his career and most noticeably against Australia in the above mentioned series, Flintoff produced some stunning efforts. His hostile fast bowling – full of pace and swing and venom, undid Australia at crucial moments of the 2005 and 2009 test series, paving the way for historic English Ashes triumphs.
And there’s no doubting Flintoff’s talisman like presence in the English team during this period – his heriocs seemingly lifting his team mates to some stellar performances.
However I have to draw the line at calling him a ‘great’ player; or even a ‘modern great’.
All one needs to do is cast an eye to his test batting and bowling records, which do not support him being a great player of the game.
Being an all rounder of such importance to his team was undoubtably a huge responsibility for Flintoff; one which he threw himself into with gusto and bravery, particulaly when playing injured. However a test bowling average which is higher than his batting average tends to point to Flintoff being, well, an average player, as opposed to great.
We all know however that Flintoff most certainly was not an ‘average’ player – he was a player of great skill and endurance and had a magical quality to be able to conjure up something special when his team needed – however somewhat disappointingly these moments only really seemed to come about with any consistency in the 2005 and 2009 Ashes series – coupling that with long stints on the sideline through injury and you get the picture of a player with undoubted ability that never truly delivered on the promise for the long periods needed to be truly known as a ‘great’ of the game.
Andrew Flintoff has been a very talented and most affable cricketer; a character of the game the likes of which are in short supply these days, however I would not put him in the category of the greats.
Bradman, Sobers, Tendulkar, Warne are greats of the game. Flintoff? With much respect – Perhaps a great player of recent Ashes series in England – but not a true ‘great’ of the game.
The same as above – with spelling errors corrected!
Whilst Flintoff was undoubtedly a very good player, particularly in the 2005 & 2009 Ashes series in England, I can’t help but cringe when he is described as a ‘great’ player; which to me seems to be all too often.
In the later stages of his career and most noticeably against Australia in the above mentioned series, Flintoff produced some stunning efforts. His hostile fast bowling – full of pace and swing and venom, undid Australia at crucial moments of the 2005 and 2009 test series, paving the way for historic English Ashes triumphs.
And there’s no doubting Flintoff’s talisman like presence in the English team during this period – his heroics seemingly lifting his team mates to some stellar performances.
However I have to draw the line at calling him a ‘great’ player; or even a ‘modern great’.
All one needs to do is cast an eye to his test batting and bowling records, which do not support him being a great player of the game.
Being an all rounder of such importance to his team was undoubtedly a huge responsibility for Flintoff; one which he threw himself into with gusto and bravery, particularly when playing injured. However a test bowling average which is higher than his batting average tends to point to Flintoff being, well, an average player, as opposed to great.
We all know however that Flintoff most certainly was not an ‘average’ player – he was a player of great skill and endurance and had a magical quality to be able to conjure up something special when his team needed – however somewhat disappointingly these moments only really seemed to come about with any consistency in the 2005 and 2009 Ashes series – coupling that with long stints on the sideline through injury and you get the picture of a player with undoubted ability that never truly delivered on the promise for the long periods needed to be truly known as a ‘great’ of the game.
Andrew Flintoff has been a talented, affable cricketer; a character of the game the likes of which are in short supply these days, however I would not put him in the category of the greats.
Bradman, Sobers, Tendulkar, Warne are greats of the game. Flintoff? With much respect – Perhaps a great player of recent Ashes series in England – but not a true ‘great’ of the game.
With regard to Sobers, Bradman, Warne, I would’ve given them even more glowing praise to elevate them to the status they deserve had I been writing this site when they were around.
For Flintoff’s status, I think he is one of the better allrounders of the modern era. The art of being a 30/30 or better allrounder is struggling of sorts. By and large, what he did was beyond his associates in the 2000s. Not placing him up with Hadlee, Botham, Akram and company as the paragon of allrounders, but he’s definitely good enough to merit a farewell post.
Most certainly good enough to merit a farewell post – Flintoff was a player that made the fans want to watch the game. World cricket is poorer for him not being able to compete anymore.
Perhaps further years in the game might have righted his record and seen him placed in a higher echelon of all rounders; certainly he was good enough to average 28 or 29 with the ball and low to mid 40′s with the bat.
That said (and of course it is just an opinion) he was an inspirational player. Perhaps sometimes too much emphasis is put on stats (although the game is based on them) and it is often hard to quantify the kind of spirit a player life Flintoff can bring to a team.
Certainly an excellent cricketer.
BTW really enjoy the website. Would you accept articles or feature contributions for publication on the site from a 30 something cricket mad Sydneysider or loves writing about the game?
Sure. Email me about it at jarrod.potter [at] trueallrounder.com and we’ll take it from there.