Andrew Flintoff

Full Name	Andrew Flintoff
Nickname	Fred
DoB	6th December 1977
Height	6' 4''
Bats/Bowls	Right hand/Right arm fast-medium
Shirt Number	11
Lancashire	Debut 1995. Cap 1998.
Tests	79 - Debut v South Africa, Trent Bridge 1998
ODI	141 - Debut v Pakistan, Sharjah 1998. T20I: 7

Profile

Without a shadow of doubt, Andrew Flintoff is rated as one of the world's best all-rounders.

And while it seems as if he has shaken off persistent worries about his problematic left ankle, on which has had to undergo no fewer than four operations, the concerns have currently switched to his right knee.

Flintoff has now retired from Test cricket after undergoing surgery on his right knee just over 24 hours after becoming an Ashes winner for the second time in August, 2009.

He is spending the winter of 2009/10 in Dubai recovering, with the aim of returning to become the best limited overs all-rounder in the world.

Flintoff played 79 Test matches for his country, scoring 3,845 runs, at an average of 31.77, and he took 226 wickets, at an average of 32.78.

The man once nicknamed Fred by former team-mate, now Lancs Academy Director, John Stanworth is a sub-editors dream. Headlines such as the InFredible Hulk, Captain InFredible have been seen in print length and breadth of the country.

The Preston all-rounder's talent was always plain to see right from the word go when he made his county debut in 1995, but there was a time when lifestyle got the better of him.

Following a day night international against Zimbabwe at Old Trafford in which he steered England to victory with 42 from 54 he hit back at weight jibes from the press by stating: "Not bad for a fat lad."

Freddie has never looked back since, despite more than the odd up and down along the way, and has produced performance after performance for club and country right up to this day.

That day against Zimbabwe proved to be somewhat of a turning point, and a strict fitness regime followed that would set him up perfectly for the success of a career that has prompted many to compare him with the great Ian Botham.

In 2000 he smashed 135 from 111 balls in the NatWest Quarter Final against Surrey, and followed it up with his maiden Test ton on the 2002 winter tour of New Zealand. It was also the Test where Nathan Astle hit the fastest double century in Test history.

Perhaps the form period of his career with the bat came in the summer of 2004 when the West Indies were the opponents. His Test best of 167 in the second game at Edgbaston supplemented back to back tons in the one-day series.

Everybody in world cricket knew what he was about prior to 2005, yet the Australians had never come up against him in a Test match before. They didn't know what had hit them. He claimed 24 wickets in the Ashes victory, and contributed with some of his blistering batting. 102 in the Trent Bridge Test and a 72 in the 1st innings of the decisive Oval Test were the highlights of a series that yielded 402 runs.

Fred captured the Player of the Series award, and was further honoured with the M.B.E., ICC Player of the Year award, BBC Sports Personality of the Year - and the Freedom of his home city of Preston.

Perhaps the greatest reward for the turnaround in his career came in the winter of 2005 when he was appointed captain of England on the tour of India as stand-in for Michael Vaughan.

Flintoff himself was replaced by Andrew Strauss when injury struck at Canterbury in 2006 - ironically whilst playing for Lancashire.

Then Freddie replaced Strauss for the 2006/7 winter Ashes campaign, in which England lost 5-0. The big all-rounder admitted he was proud to have given captaincy his best shot, but it didn’t quite work out.

In the summer of 2007, he played only a handful of games for both club and country. And unfortunately it was perhaps the period of his career when injury worries bit the most. He had to endure another two ankle operations in the space of five, ruling him out until the start of the 2008 domestic season.

He returned to action on Lancashire’s pre-season tour of the Middle East, and performed well with the ball before returning to face South Africa in a Test match at Headingley.

It was probably the most Lancashire fans saw of their star player, although he was frustrated further by injury when he was ruled out for six weeks with a side strain picked up in a Championship match against Durham in May.

While Freddie’s bowling was spectacular, his batting wasn’t. In 15 innings for his county in all competitions in 2008, he recorded eight single figure scores including four ducks. His highest score was an unbeaten 62 in a televised four-day win against Sussex.

Flintoff immediately improved his form with the bat, especially in the one-day series against South Africa, and played his part in a hectic winter of 2008/9 for England in Antigua for the Stanford Series, in India for one-day internationals and Tests and in the West Indies for more Tests and one-dayers.

He did, however, have to miss the fourth Test in Barbados due to a hip injury, flying home to recover before returning halfway through the subsequent one-day series with dramatic effect.

He claimed the first hat-trick of his international career in the fifth ODI of the series at St Lucia, returning career best figures of 5-19 in the process. England also won the series 3-2.

During that winter, he had signed to play in the Indian Premier League with the Chennai Super Kings, selling at a whopping price of US$ 1.5m at an auction in Goa.

There was plenty of speculation as to whether he should go to play in the competition, to be staged in South Africa due to elections in India, due to his injury history - and with it being so close to an Ashes series.

He went, but was forced home early with the first of his two right knee injuries in the space of six months.

He made it back for the start of the Ashes thanks to the sterling work of his medical team, at both England and Lancashire, and walloped a spectacular 93 off 41 balls for Lancashire in a Twenty20 Cup match against Derbyshire in June.

He didn’t quite have the prolonged impact in the 2009 Ashes that he had in 2005, but still returned a superb match winning 5-92 in the second innings of the Lord’s Test, putting England one up in the process.

That was only days after announcing that he would retire from Test cricket at the end of the series.

He missed the fourth Test at Headingley due to ongoing worries about his knee, but returned for the fifth Test at the Oval, running out Ricky Ponting on the final day to help England to victory in his last act as a Test cricketer.

Whilst Flintoff has been on the sidelines, he has released his second book and turned down an ECB central contract.

He wants to play limited overs cricket all around the world, but England will come first and Lancashire second.

With a new three-year contract to play one-day cricket for his county agreed, Lancashire fans will finally get to see a whole lot more of their star player.

Graham Hardcastle
(c) Lancashire County Cricket Club Ltd
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