Left field

More Freelance Flintoffs might serve England well

Andrew Flintoff’s decision to forego a contract with England and set himself up as an elite cricket freelancer has provoked a fair amount of grumbling in the media, with words like “mercenary” and “snub” being bandied about all over the place.

But whether you consider Flintoff’s decision ungrateful or not, consider for a moment whether it might not work out to England’s advantage.

As others have said, there’s nothing really new in Flintoff’s decision to go it alone. Other cricketers have made themselves available as players for hire in different parts of the world over a season.

The difference here is that Flintoff has made it clear that he is still available to play for his country at one-day international and Twenty20 level … and looking at the country’s recent results, how they need him.

According to recent media reports, the thought of having such a talented and marketable cricketer as Flintoff in their ranks has already drawn interest from teams in Australia and South Africa.

Fitness permitting, he will be on the auction block for the Indian Premier League and as long as his knees hold up he could follow the sun, playing some games for England (he has his eye on returning for the tour of Bangladesh early next year) and more for cash-rich teams around the globe.

Is there anything wrong with what Flintoff is doing?

Flintoff and Botham were good, but were they great?

In an echo of Australia’s futile craving for a new Bradman for at least a decade after he retired, England cricket yearned in vain for another Ian Botham.

Derek Pringle, David Capel and Phil DeFreitas were hailed as potential successors while the all-rounder was still playing in the 1980s. The unsought weight of expectation then fell on Chris Lewis and Dominic Cork.

Although Pringle and DeFreitas developed into decent international bowlers and Cork was a better player than either, the comparisons were invalid and unfair.

The quest by public and media persisted, culminating in the initially unlikely figure of Andrew Flintoff, who lumbered on to the international scene overweight and underprepared in 1998.

To his credit Flintoff absorbed harsh words from people whose opinion he respected, trimmed down, trained hard and became an essential component of the England side.

For two glorious years, in 2004 and the transcendent Ashes series of the following English season, Flintoff matched Botham at his best, scoring 1,607 runs at 40.16 and capturing 111 wickets at 24.94.

As a commanding middle-order batsman and intimidating fast bowler, Flintoff would have held a spot in a strong England side with distinction in either role.

And so the search for a new Flintoff begins…

In the wake of England’s Ashes triumph over Australia, a huge question awaits…can England find a replacement for Andrew Flintoff?

He has been the scourge of the opposition for so long. His importance was underlined in this series where despite being half-fit he managed to knock over the tourists at Lord’s to claim five wickets and even ran out Australian captain Ricky Ponting at the Oval (which he said on Monday was probably the first time he’s ever run somebody out).

Flintoff (79 tests, 3,845 runs, 226 wickets) has been the heartbeat of the England team over the past five years and his departure will leave a gaping hole in the setup.

Nevertheless, the biggest mistake England and the media could make would be to conduct a search for the ‘next Andrew Flintoff’.

The previous talisman for England, Ian Botham (102, 5,200, 383), retired in 1992 and immediately a number of all-rounders were built up as the ‘next Ian Botham’, much to the ire of former England captain Michael Atherton back in 2001.

Phil Defreitas, Chris Lewis, Craig White and Dominic Cork came and went in the 90s, but not until Flintoff made his debut in 1998 did England recognise a potential player in the ilk of Botham.

However, not until 2004 did Flintoff really begin displaying match-winning prowess with both bat and ball, and at his peak in the 2005 Ashes series the Englishman was an unstoppable force.

England regain the Ashes — your views

England have regained the Ashes after beating Australia by 197 runs at the Oval to seal a 2-1 series victory.

How important was Andrew Flintoff’s run out of Ricky Ponting when the Australia captain looked well set? Flintoff did little with bat or ball in his last test before retiring but still made sure he grabbed the headlines.

Australia put up the fight that everyone expected but England were always likely to grind out the win.

So probably not as exciting or as skilful as the 2005 series, but much more competitive than Australia’s whitewash win last time. The series probably pivoted on Monty Panesar’s defiant batting in the first test in Cardiff.

Where will this series rank and did the result reflect the strength of the two sides?

England start badly, career downhill

Andrew Strauss had a bad start to his day when he and his team mates were evacuated from their hotel at 5 o’clock in the morning because of a fire alarm. Unfortunately, that was just the start of a black Friday for the England captain.After days of assessing the fitness of Andrew Flintoff, Strauss and coach Andy Flower finally decided that the inspirational all-rounder could not be risked in a five-day match and it was announced that he was ruled out of the fourth Ashes test.

Strauss took part in a game of soccer on the Headingley outfield and watched in horror as wicketkeeper Matt Prior collapsed with a back spasm before retiring gingerly to the dressing-room for treatment.

Fortunately, Prior made a rapid recovery and Strauss’s day then appeared to take a turn for the better when he won the toss and chose to bat. He strode out confidently with his opening partner Alastair Cook looking to build a huge first-innings total and take charge of the match.

But having survived a huge appeal for lbw off Ben Hilfenhaus’s first delivery of the game, Strauss looked out of sorts and he lasted just 17 balls and three runs before edging Peter Siddle to Marcus North at third slip.

A rare failure in the series and Strauss returned to the dressing-room hoping to watch his team mates take responsibility but he watched in disbelief as the Australian seamers took advantage of favourable conditions to leave England in tatters at 72-6 at lunch. Suddenly it looked a very good toss to lose as Ricky Ponting would almost certainly have batted first had he won it.

Strauss watched the start of the afternoon session from the balcony outside the dressing-room and things did not improve as Graeme Swann, Steve Harmison, James Anderson and Graham Onions joined the procession. Around nine and a half hours after emerging bleary-eyed into the Leeds dawn, Strauss’s nightmare was complete.

PHOTO: England’s Andrew Strauss leaves the field after being caught for 3 during the first day of the fourth Ashes cricket test match against Australia at Headingley, August 7, 2009. REUTERS/Philip Brown

Can England afford to call on fragile Flintoff again?

In the end it wasn’t about the two S’s, Swann and swing, it came down to the two P’s, patience and perseverance, as Australia’s batsmen swept away England hopes of a 2-0 Ashes series lead by holding on for a draw at Edgbaston. The challenge for Australia and their batting line-up now is to perform like that in the first innings of a test to put pressure on England, and not just in the second when they need to save a game.

This match didn’t get the denouement it deserved after the thrilling cricket played on Friday and Sunday, but mother nature can hold up her hand and take the blame for that. Just one more day’s play could have provided an intriguing finish, but it wasn’t to be.

In truth England’s bowlers didn’t bowl well enough, with Graeme Swann never quite touching the dizzy heights of Sunday night when he bowled a spellbinding over to Ricky Ponting, which eventually accounted for the great man’s wicket.

Flintoff bowled with aggression but now looks so seriously hampered by his knee injury you begin to wonder whether the Headingley test, which begins on Friday, might be beyond him.

As in the first innings, Anderson’s probing line and ability to swing the ball offered the home side the likeliest route to victory, but bewilderingly he was left under bowled by captain Andrew Strauss.

Most cause for concern will be the bowling form of Stuart Broad who, like Mitchell Johnson, appears to be shorn of confidence. Unlike Johnson, he is struggling to take wickets when he’s out of form.

I’d stick with Broad. He’s a good bowler learning his trade and too much time has been invested in him to dispense with him mid-series, in his first slump of form. It may place pressure on the rest of the bowling attack but his batting adds weight to a line-up that appears brittle without Pietersen.

Can England take a 2-0 Ashes lead?

A stunning day’s Test cricket, wasn’t it? If there was ever any doubt over the status of the longest form of the game then Sunday’s play will have washed away concerns.

You simply don’t get this sort of story told, with its twists and turns, at a Twenty20 match or a 50-over game for that matter. It had everything; wickets, runs, hostility, sledging and a dramatic finale that leaves a positive result to this rain interrupted Test match still possible.

Australia closed day four on 88 for 2 in their second innings, still 25 runs behind England’s first innings total of 376, and they will attempt to bat out the final day in order to save this match.

The draw is still favourite, but England have given themselves a whiff of an opportunity, by way of their aggressive batting and attacking bowling. Led by the bruise brothers Andrew Flintoff and Matt Prior, who smashed 89 off almost as many balls, England clawed their way back from the precipice of 168 for five to post a 113 run first innings lead over the Australians.

It was scenario that seemed most unlikely after the start of play was delayed for an hour. Then Australia’s bowlers got to work in a tight first session, creating pressure, which brought the wickets of Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood, to leave England 159 for 4 at lunch.

It wasn’t long after the restart that the fifth wicket fell and England looked in trouble.

Ian Bell, who had so much luck in surviving three huge lbw appeals that he should go out and buy himself a lottery ticket, eventually fell as the umpire found the fourth appeal too tempting to turn down, with Bell once more caught on his front pad striding across his stumps to a swinging delivery, and he went for 53.

Ashes analysis: Just how much will England miss Flintoff?

A stunning spell by Andrew Flintoff saw Australia’s last five wickets tumble for just 93 runs as the tourists came under an intense barrage of brutal deliveries from England’s retiring talisman, who secured his side their first test victory over Australia at Lord’s since 1934 by 115 runs.

If anybody ever questioned what England would be missing once Flintoff retires at the end of this series, they got their answer in spades as Lancashire’s finest bowled unchanged for nine overs from the Pavilion End, returning figures of 3 for 33, and completing his first five-wicket haul in an innings for four years.

There was heightened tension at the start of play as Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke resumed their partnership, with Australia 313 for five overnight and threatening to overhaul a world record run chase and steal a 1-0 lead in the series. But Flintoff had other ideas.

Haddin was the first to go, failing to add to his overnight score of 80 as he could only edge a vicious lifting delivery from Flintoff to Collingwood at second slip, in the England man’s first over.

The wicket tangibly eased England’s and their supporters’ anxieties, leading to a sense that Australia were finally there for the taking.

Realising England were going for the jugular, and with only the bowlers left to bat with, Clarke bravely went on the offensive, repelling England’s vulture like fielders with some attacking stroke play.

But Australia’s only centurion in the match ended up perishing for 136 going for one positive shot too many, missing a Graeme Swann off-break, which rocked back the Aussie’s off stump.

Ashes analysis: Australia crumble as England start to swing

I’m still unsure as to whether England’s first innings total of 425 is a good score on what is essentially still a flat Lord’s track, but with Australia 156 for 8 at the close of play on the second the home side can be proud of their efforts so far.

Australia took just 11 overs of the morning session on day two to polish off England’s tail, as Andrew Strauss, unbeaten on 161 overnight, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad, provided little resistance to some good swing bowling by Ben Hilfenhaus.

A defiant last wicket stand of 49, again involving James Anderson, a hero at Cardiff, made England’s first innings total more respectful.

And it was Anderson who was given first use of the new ball and with swing in the air he made the new cherry talk, reducing Australia to 10 for 2, as newbie Phillip Hughes once again failed; a note to all England followers who are calling for the head of Ravi Bopara, it takes time to establish yourself in an Ashes contest.

Ricky Ponting followed shortly after, given out caught at slip, despite not hitting the ball, but should have been given out lbw anyway. A case of right end result, despite the umpires got there by going down the wrong path.

Simon Katich again threatened to build another monster partnership as he did at Cardiff with Ponting, this time with Michael Hussey, but England’s bowlers were finally bowling to the fields set for them, and Katich perished pulling to a magnificent tumbling catch by Stuart Broad at deep square leg.

Flintoff decision could be blessing in disguise for England

There is no doubt England will miss Andrew Flintoff’s never-say-die attitude, enthusiasm and willpower he brings to the dressing room, but the team could end up being more settled following his test retirement after the Ashes.

Management will no longer have to ponder the “what if he is available?” conundrum.

Younger all-rounders, possibly Tim Bresnan, can now be given an extended chance to shine and prove their credentials without the sizeable shadow of ‘Freddie’ persistently lurking in the background.

It will also mean coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss can move the team strategy forward.

For too long they’ve been wandering in the wilderness, forced constantly to alternate between four or five frontline bowlers, disrupting the balance of the team and the roles players have within it, never certain if Flintoff will be fit enough to complete a test series as part of four or five-man attack.

All sides move forward no matter how influential the player that is leaving, just look at the current Australian team.