Andrew Flintoff
Encyclopedia
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff MBE (born 6 December 1977) is a former English
cricket
er who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club
, England and the Indian Premier League
team Chennai Super Kings
. A tall (6' 4") fast bowler
, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top international allrounders in both ODI and Test cricket. His nickname "Freddie" or "Fred" comes from the similarity between his surname and that of Fred Flintstone
.
From his debut in 1998, Flintoff became an integral player for England, and has both captained and vice-captained the team. However, he suffered regular injuries throughout his international career, often due to his heavy frame and bowling action. During the period 2007–09 he played in only 13 of England's 36 Test matches, but nevertheless remained a core member of the England squad, being selected whenever available. On 15 July 2009 he announced his retirement from Test cricket at the conclusion of the 2009 Ashes series
, on 24 August, but made himself available for future commitments in One Day International and Twenty20
International matches.
It was reported on 7 September 2009 that Flintoff has developed deep vein thrombosis
after surgery to his knee. On 16 September 2010, he announced his retirement from all cricket.
in 1996/7 and at home against Zimbabwe
in 1997. He made his Test match
debut for England in 1998 against South Africa
at Trent Bridge
, in a match remembered for its second-innings duel between Michael Atherton and Allan Donald
; in a precursor to their subsequent all-round rivalry, Flintoff and Jacques Kallis
exchanged wickets. Nonetheless, his struggle to make the grade at county level continued, he found form only intermittently, though often explosively when he did so. In 2000 he hit 135 not out in the Quarter-finals of the Natwest Trophy against Surrey
, which David Gower
described as "the most awesome innings we are ever going to see on a cricket field". In the same year England's management made clear they were unhappy with his fitness and weight, Flintoff responded to his critics with 42 not out in a one day game against Zimbabwe
on his home ground of Old Trafford
, forming an explosive second wicket stand with Graeme Hick
; as he collected the Man of the Match award he remarked his performance was "not bad for a fat lad".
Though he lost his England place during 2001, he remodelled his bowling action and gained a place on the 2001–02 tour to India
. Though he hit possibly his worst international batting form during the Test series, frustrating him to the point that he broke down in tears in the dressing room at one stage, he later saw the tour as a turning point in his career, specifically the crucial final one-day match. Entrusted with bowling the final over with India needing 11 to win, he ran out Anil Kumble
and bowled Javagal Srinath
with successive balls to win the match, taking off his shirt in celebration, through both joy and personal relief.
Cricketer of the Year, having failed to make Wisden's top 40 list in 2002.
Although injury prevented him from bowling, he was called into the England squad for the 2004 Nat West One Day International (ODI) Series against New Zealand
and the West Indies as a specialist batsman, scoring two consecutive centuries in the series and hitting seven sixes in one innings
.
He matched this haul in the Second Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston in July, hitting a first-class
best figure of 167. Over the course of England's record-breaking summer, he hit a half-century in all seven victorious Tests against New Zealand
and the West Indies
. On returning to the one-day game as an all-rounder
in September he fell agonising short of a third one-day century, caught on 99 against India
, though he went on to hit a further century in the ICC Champions Trophy pool match against Sri Lanka
two weeks later. At the end of the season he was named as the inaugural winner of the ICC Award
for one-day player of the year, and the Professional Cricketers' Association
player of the year. He also became a father when his fiancée Rachael Wools gave birth to Holly on 6 September. They now have a second child, Corey, who was born during the series in India in 2006. Freddie briefly returned home from the tour to see his son for the first time and did not miss any matches in the process.
Following the Test series in South Africa in December 2004 and January 2005, Flintoff flew home for surgery on his left ankle, leading to worries he might not regain fitness in time for The Ashes. In fact, following a rehabilitation programme of swimming and hill-walking, he recovered ahead of schedule and was able to return to action for Lancashire
in April.
In the Second Test against Australia at Edgbaston in August 2005, he broke Ian Botham's 1981 record of six sixes in an Ashes Test Match with five in the first innings, and a further four in the second innings, 141 runs in total. In the same game he took a total of 7 wickets (across both innings), including the wickets of Langer and Ponting in his first over in Australia's run-chase. He managed all this despite a shoulder injury early in the second innings. England won the game by the narrowest of margins – just 2 runs, and saved their hopes of regaining the Ashes. Flintoff was named 'Man of the Match' and captain Michael Vaughan
subsequently dubbed the match "Fred's Test" in honour of his achievement.
Flintoff scored a century during England's crucial win at Trent Bridge. He took 5 wickets on the fourth day of the final Test match, enabling England to go off for bad light and helping them to eventually secure a draw and regain the Ashes.
For his achievements throughout the 2005 Ashes series, he was named as "Man of the Series" by Australian coach, John Buchanan
. His achievement also won him the inaugural Compton-Miller Medal. He was also awarded the Freedom of the City
of Preston.
In October 2005, Flintoff shared the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy
for the ICC player of the year award with Jacques Kallis
of South Africa. In December 2005, Flintoff was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year
for 2005, the first cricketer since Botham in 1981. In the New Year's Honours List for 2006, Flintoff was appointed an MBE for his role in the successful Ashes side. In January 2006, Flintoff was presented with Freedom of the City
award for Preston, Lancashire. The award was presented to Flintoff by the Mayor of Preston. Other recipients of the award include Sir Tom Finney
and Nick Park
.
In February 2006, following England captain Michael Vaughan
and vice-captain Marcus Trescothick
becoming unavailable for the first Test match against India, Flintoff was named captain of the England team and subsequently announced that he would be staying in India for the entire Test series, although he and his wife were expecting their second child. His wife gave birth to a son, Corey, shortly before the second Test on 9 March.
On the field, Flintoff was seen as a great success during the drawn series with India, with a 212-run victory in Mumbai
. His contributions with both bat and ball ensured that he was named as the player of the series, with many commentators seeing Flintoff as someone who not only worked better under the responsibility but was also viewed as a great influence of an inexperienced side, which included many debutants, such as Alastair Cook
, Owais Shah
and Monty Panesar
. Flintoff amassed four fifties in the series, and took 11 wickets, on unfriendly surfaces for seamers. Flintoff continued to captain England during the seven ODIs in India, although he was rested for two matches.
However, following a recurrence of his long-term ankle problem in May 2006, he missed both the ODI series against Sri Lanka
, and the first Test against Pakistan. It was later announced in July that Flintoff's rehabiltation had not been sufficient to quell the injury, and that further surgery would be required. He was thus ruled out for the entire series against Pakistan. Despite injury concerns, Flintoff was later named for the ICC Champions Trophy
, where he played as a specialist batsman, not as an all-rounder.
After his previous stint as captain in the Test series against India, Flintoff returned as captain of the England team for the eagerly anticipated 2006-07 Ashes series
in Australia. The series turned out to be a humiliating one for Flintoff, leading his side to five straight losses and thus losing the Ashes after having held them for the shortest time in history. In addition, he presided over England's worst ever defeat in an Ashes series, equalling the 1921 whitewash at the hands of the Warwick Armstrong
-led Australian team in the wake of World War I.
Flintoff's own play in the 2006–07 series, both bowling and at the crease, was generally deemed disappointing. He made only two scores over 50 in the series, his best bowling figures were 4/99 in the first innings of the First Test in Brisbane, and he failed to get 5 wickets in a match. Flintoff played in only one first-class game in the lead up to the series. He was initially undone by Australia's excellent seam bowling but his batting improved throughout the series as he got more match practice. A persistent ankle injury prevented Flintoff from bowling long spells at full pace and Australia's batsmen took advantage of this. According to Nasser Hussain during the tour he also had three or four warnings for inappropriate behaviour and binge drinking, including arriving hungover for a training session.
Flintoff also captained England for several of the subsequent 2006-07 Commonwealth Bank Series One Day International matches. Michael Vaughan's return from knee surgery was cut short by a hamstring injury and he was only able to play two matches, leaving Flintoff in charge for the remaining games. England qualified in the last game of eight group matches for the best-of-three finals against Australia, but reversed their poor form on tour with a 2–0 series win in the finals.
Flintoff contributed significantly with the ball in both matches, taking three wickets in the first match and allowing only 10 runs off 5 overs in the second as Australia chased a reduced total in a rain-hit match.
returning from injury for the Cricket World Cup
in the West Indies, Flintoff was replaced as captain but appointed England
's vice-captain.
In the opening match of the tournament against New Zealand
Flintoff was out first ball in England's innings and failed to take a wicket, although his bowling was very economical conceding only 17 runs in 8 overs, and he took a stunning one-handed catch at slip to dismiss Ross Taylor
for a duck. On the evening of England's defeat Flintoff – along with some other players and coaches from the England squad – indulged in some late night drinking in a night club, only two days before their vital match against Canada
. In the early hours of the morning he was reported as having to be rescued after falling off a pedalo
– this quickly became known in the media as the "Fredalo" incident (a portmanteau of "Freddie" and "pedalo"). Flintoff and the others involved were reprimanded and fined and with Flintoff being stripped of the vice-captaincy and, in addition, he was suspended for the match against Canada. It was revealed by England coach Duncan Fletcher
that Flintoff had had a number of previous warnings about his behaviour. Flintoff has since issued a public apology.
Flintoff returned to the England team for the last group match against Kenya, taking two wickets. In the Super 8 matches, Flintoff often excelled with the ball but failed to recover his batting form. Against Ireland he took 4–43 and scored 43 runs; against Sri Lanka he took 3–35 but was out for 2 and against Australia he took 1–35 but was out for 4. In the next match against Bangladesh Flintoff took 1–38 in 8 overs and scored 23 runs off 21 balls. Ultimately, he failed to influence an ailing English side and had a poor tournament. Michael Vaughan
later commented that Flintoff's pedalo antics had adversely affected team morale.
but he re-injured his ankle and was ruled out for the first Test which started on 17 May 2007. Having undergone another operation on the troublesome ankle, he missed the whole Test and one-day series against the West Indies, and was also ruled out for the subsequent Test series with India. Following several games for Lancashire, Flintoff returned for England in the first of seven ODIs against India on 21 August 2007. He bowled seven overs and ended with figures of one for twelve in England's 104-run victory. He hit an eventful nine runs during the second ODI; however, while fielding, he injured his knee and sat out England's 42-run victory in the third ODI. He returned for the 4th ODI on 30 August. Flintoff missed England's two narrow defeats to India in the fifth and sixth ODIs before taking three for 45 in the seventh, helping England to win the series four-three with a seven-wicket victory.
His ankle injury recurred during the end of the 2007 season, and, although he played in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, he did not accompany the England squad to Sri Lanka, and a fourth operation made it highly unlikely that he would play again before the summer of 2008, missing both the Sri Lankan Test Series and the 2008 tour of New Zealand. Flintoff remained "upbeat" about his career, however.
He was back in action for Lancashire early in the 2008 season, but a side strain ruled him out of contention for the home series against New Zealand. After again returning to action in county cricket, he was recalled to the England squad for the second Test against South Africa. He took his 200th Test wicket in the Third Test, trapping Neil McKenzie
lbw
for 72. Flintoff bowled consistently against the South Africans, but South African coach Mickey Arthur
felt that he was too defensive. His batting also began to show promise as he consistently made starts, before being moved back up to bat at six when Kevin Pietersen
took over as captain. In the following one day series, Flintoff was an important player for England, leading Pietersen to describe him as "a superstar". Flintoff scored 78 in both the first and the third matches – he was not required to bat in the second – as well as 31 not out off twelve balls in the fourth, whilst taking three wickets in the same match. This led many pundits to speculate that Flintoff might just be back to his best. He won Man of the Series in the ODI home series against South Africa, where England won four-nil: the last match was washed out. He was both the top run-scorer and the top wicket-taker of that series. Still, though, his want of consistency frustrated the pundits. "Flintoff," wrote Peter Roebuck
some time later, "is a fine cricketer who has never quite worked out how he takes wickets or score runs. Torn between hitting and playing, pounding and probing, he has performed below his highest capabilities."
On England's tour of India
Flintoff started the series well. In the first warm-up match against the Mumbai Cricket Association, he scored exactly 100. It was his first century for England since the Fourth Test of the 2005 Ashes. His batting did not follow with similar successes in India and the West Indies, but his bowling remained strong, with a dozen wickets in the Caribbean at under thirty apiece, followed by a hat-trick in the final ODI series, becoming only the third English bowler ever to do so.
In February 2009, the Chennai Super Kings
of the Indian Premier League
bought Flintoff for USD 1,550,000 – a good $600,000 above his base price of $950,000. This makes him the highest-ever-paid IPL player, alongside compatriot Kevin Pietersen
, and surpasses Mahendra Singh Dhoni
's $1,500,000. But Flintoff did not find success at the tournament, held in South Africa after the Mumbai attacks, as after a difficult first few matches he was sent home for surgery following another knee injury.
However, speculation over Flintoff's form ahead of the much-awaited 2009 Ashes series died down as he seized six scalps in his first match back for Lancashire and left "several county batsmen [...] nursing bruised ribs and fingers". He also collected a half-century against Hampshire, although he was still yet to register a century in either domestic cricket or any form of the international game since that Trent Bridge
instalment of the last home Ashes in 2005, which year also accounted for his most recent Test five-for. "It's always been an Australian trait to over-rate players who have done well against them (just ask VVS Laxman)," wrote Lawrence Booth
. "But in the case of Andrew Flintoff, this phenomenon is getting so out of control you wonder whether Steve Waugh
has returned to orchestrate a cunning mind-game. [...] In any case, does anyone honestly think a player with his fitness record will make it through a five-Test series condensed into less than seven weeks?" Flintoff did offer some hope with the willow in the Twenty20 Cup
, however, hitting 93 off 41 balls for Lancashire against Derbyshire in June.
On 15 July 2009, Flintoff announced he would retire from Test cricket at the end of the 2009 Ashes Series
. He said that "Since 2005 I have just been plagued with injury so I've got the opportunity now to finish on a high by helping England to win the Ashes and it will give me great pleasure if I can play my last Test at the Oval and we can win the Ashes – it doesn't get any bigger than that." He was man of the match in England's victory at Lords in the Second Test Match, taking 5 wickets in the second innings after a fine display of fast bowling. On 23 August 2009, England defeated Australia at The Oval to seal a 2–1 series win, with Flintoff notably running out the Australian captain Ricky Ponting
, ensuring Flintoff ended his England career on a high.
On 16 September 2010, however, Flintoff retired from all forms of professional cricket, having consulted with medical advisors. He still plays recreationally for Penwortham Cricket Club alongside his brother Chris Flintoff.
television sports panel show A League of Their Own
, hosted by James Corden
. In December 2010, Flintoff became a guest commentator during a few matches in the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship
event.. He also current hosts a radio show on BBC Radio Five Live on a Monday night.
As of 2011 Flintoff has been named as the latest brand ambassador for big men's fashion brand Jacamo and is set to have his own range in 2012.
Andrew's father, Colin, and his brother, Chris, both played cricket, with Colin still playing for Whittingham
Cricket Club near Preston. During his innings of 167 against the West Indies
at Edgbaston in July 2004, one six off Jermaine Lawson
was hit high into the Ryder Stand and was almost caught by his father, who fumbled the ball and dropped it. Colin Flintoff remarked "If I'd taken it he'd have been the first Test batsman to be caught out by his dad!"
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
, England and the Indian Premier League
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
team Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings is a franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu that plays in the Indian Premier League. Founded in 2008, the team is currently captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coached by Stephen Fleming, a former New Zealand cricketer. The team's home ground is the M. A...
. A tall (6' 4") fast bowler
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top international allrounders in both ODI and Test cricket. His nickname "Freddie" or "Fred" comes from the similarity between his surname and that of Fred Flintstone
Fred Flintstone
Frederick Joseph “Fred” Flintstone, also known as Fred W. Flintstone or Frederick J. Flintstone, is the protagonist of the animated sitcom The Flintstones, which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960-66. He is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles...
.
From his debut in 1998, Flintoff became an integral player for England, and has both captained and vice-captained the team. However, he suffered regular injuries throughout his international career, often due to his heavy frame and bowling action. During the period 2007–09 he played in only 13 of England's 36 Test matches, but nevertheless remained a core member of the England squad, being selected whenever available. On 15 July 2009 he announced his retirement from Test cricket at the conclusion of the 2009 Ashes series
2009 Ashes series
The 2009 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia, and was part of the Australian cricket tour of England in 2009. Starting on 8 July 2009, England and Australia played five Tests, with England winning the series 2–1...
, on 24 August, but made himself available for future commitments in One Day International and Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
International matches.
It was reported on 7 September 2009 that Flintoff has developed deep vein thrombosis
Deep vein thrombosis
Deep vein thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein. Deep vein thrombosis commonly affects the leg veins or the deep veins of the pelvis. Occasionally the veins of the arm are affected...
after surgery to his knee. On 16 September 2010, he announced his retirement from all cricket.
Early years: criticism, injury and fitness troubles
Flintoff was captain of the England Under-19 team for their "Test" match tour to PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
in 1996/7 and at home against Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean cricket team
The Zimbabwean cricket team is a national cricket team representing Zimbabwe. It is administrated by Zimbabwe Cricket...
in 1997. He made his Test match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
debut for England in 1998 against South Africa
South African cricket team
The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...
at Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
, in a match remembered for its second-innings duel between Michael Atherton and Allan Donald
Allan Donald
Allan Anthony Donald is a former South African cricketer and one of their most successful pace bowlers.In his prime, he was one of the best fast bowlers ever seen in Test cricket, reaching the top of the ICC Test rankings in 1998 and peaked with a top ICC ranking of 895 points the next year, the...
; in a precursor to their subsequent all-round rivalry, Flintoff and Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis
Jacques Henry Kallis is a South African cricketer. As an all-rounder he is a formidable right-handed batsman and fast-medium swingbowler. He is one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, being the only cricketer in the history of the game to hold more than 12,000 runs and 250 wickets in both...
exchanged wickets. Nonetheless, his struggle to make the grade at county level continued, he found form only intermittently, though often explosively when he did so. In 2000 he hit 135 not out in the Quarter-finals of the Natwest Trophy against Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
, which David Gower
David Gower
David Ivon Gower OBE is a former English cricketer who became a commentator for Sky Sports. Although he eventually rose to the captaincy of the England cricket team during the 1980s, he is best known for being one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of the modern era. Gower played 117 Test...
described as "the most awesome innings we are ever going to see on a cricket field". In the same year England's management made clear they were unhappy with his fitness and weight, Flintoff responded to his critics with 42 not out in a one day game against Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean cricket team
The Zimbabwean cricket team is a national cricket team representing Zimbabwe. It is administrated by Zimbabwe Cricket...
on his home ground of Old Trafford
Old Trafford (cricket)
Old Trafford is a cricket ground situated on Talbot Road in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester. It has been the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club since its foundation in 1864, having been the ground of Manchester Cricket Club from 1857...
, forming an explosive second wicket stand with Graeme Hick
Graeme Hick
Graeme Ashley Hick MBE is a Zimbabwean-born cricketer who played 65 Test matches and 120 One Day Internationals for England. He played county cricket for Worcestershire for his entire English domestic career, a period of well over twenty years, and in 2008 he surpassed Graham Gooch's record for...
; as he collected the Man of the Match award he remarked his performance was "not bad for a fat lad".
Though he lost his England place during 2001, he remodelled his bowling action and gained a place on the 2001–02 tour to India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
. Though he hit possibly his worst international batting form during the Test series, frustrating him to the point that he broke down in tears in the dressing room at one stage, he later saw the tour as a turning point in his career, specifically the crucial final one-day match. Entrusted with bowling the final over with India needing 11 to win, he ran out Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...
and bowled Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath is a former Indian cricketer. He was a frontline fast bowler for the Indian cricket team until his retirement, being the second Indian pace bowler after Kapil Dev to take 200 Test wickets. One ball that he bowled during the 1996 tour of South Africa measured...
with successive balls to win the match, taking off his shirt in celebration, through both joy and personal relief.
Improved consistency, step-up to key international player
In 2002 he scored his maiden Test century. By 2003, a newer, fitter Flintoff started to justify the comparisons with Botham. Up to the end of 2002, he had averaged just 19 with the bat and 47 with the ball; from 2003 to the end of the 2005 Ashes series, the corresponding figures were 43 and 28. In the summer of 2003 he scored a century and three fifties in the 5 Test series against South Africa at home, and continued to excel on the tour of the West Indies in March and April 2004, taking five wickets in the Test in Barbados, and scoring a century in Antigua. In early 2004 he was named as a WisdenWisden
The Wisden Group was a group of companies formed by John Wisden & Co Ltd, publishers of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. As well as John Wisden & Co, the group included the The Wisden Cricketer magazine, Cricinfo – the world's highest traffic cricket website – and the Hawk-Eye computerised...
Cricketer of the Year, having failed to make Wisden's top 40 list in 2002.
Although injury prevented him from bowling, he was called into the England squad for the 2004 Nat West One Day International (ODI) Series against New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...
and the West Indies as a specialist batsman, scoring two consecutive centuries in the series and hitting seven sixes in one innings
Innings
An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably cricket and baseball during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is...
.
He matched this haul in the Second Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston in July, hitting a first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
best figure of 167. Over the course of England's record-breaking summer, he hit a half-century in all seven victorious Tests against New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...
and the West Indies
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
. On returning to the one-day game as an all-rounder
All-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...
in September he fell agonising short of a third one-day century, caught on 99 against India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
, though he went on to hit a further century in the ICC Champions Trophy pool match against Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cricket team
The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...
two weeks later. At the end of the season he was named as the inaugural winner of the ICC Award
ICC Awards
The ICC Awards is a set of sports awards for cricket. The awards recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months...
for one-day player of the year, and the Professional Cricketers' Association
Professional Cricketers' Association
The Professional Cricketers' Association is the representative body of past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales, founded in 1967...
player of the year. He also became a father when his fiancée Rachael Wools gave birth to Holly on 6 September. They now have a second child, Corey, who was born during the series in India in 2006. Freddie briefly returned home from the tour to see his son for the first time and did not miss any matches in the process.
2005: Ashes winner
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
in April.
In the Second Test against Australia at Edgbaston in August 2005, he broke Ian Botham's 1981 record of six sixes in an Ashes Test Match with five in the first innings, and a further four in the second innings, 141 runs in total. In the same game he took a total of 7 wickets (across both innings), including the wickets of Langer and Ponting in his first over in Australia's run-chase. He managed all this despite a shoulder injury early in the second innings. England won the game by the narrowest of margins – just 2 runs, and saved their hopes of regaining the Ashes. Flintoff was named 'Man of the Match' and captain Michael Vaughan
Michael Vaughan
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...
subsequently dubbed the match "Fred's Test" in honour of his achievement.
Flintoff scored a century during England's crucial win at Trent Bridge. He took 5 wickets on the fourth day of the final Test match, enabling England to go off for bad light and helping them to eventually secure a draw and regain the Ashes.
For his achievements throughout the 2005 Ashes series, he was named as "Man of the Series" by Australian coach, John Buchanan
John Buchanan (cricketer)
John Marshall Buchanan is the former coach of the Australia national cricket team and of Kolkata Knight Riders team in the Indian Premier League. John Buchanan is a King's Old Collegian and is also an old boy of The Southport School, located in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia...
. His achievement also won him the inaugural Compton-Miller Medal. He was also awarded the Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
of Preston.
In October 2005, Flintoff shared the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy
The Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy is a cricket trophy awarded annually by the International Cricket Council to its chosen world player of the Year. It was first awarded in 2004 to Rahul Dravid....
for the ICC player of the year award with Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis
Jacques Henry Kallis is a South African cricketer. As an all-rounder he is a formidable right-handed batsman and fast-medium swingbowler. He is one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, being the only cricketer in the history of the game to hold more than 12,000 runs and 250 wickets in both...
of South Africa. In December 2005, Flintoff was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year
BBC Sports Personality of the Year
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of one titular award. Several new awards have been introduced, and , eight awards are presented. The oldest of these are the Team of the Year and...
for 2005, the first cricketer since Botham in 1981. In the New Year's Honours List for 2006, Flintoff was appointed an MBE for his role in the successful Ashes side. In January 2006, Flintoff was presented with Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
award for Preston, Lancashire. The award was presented to Flintoff by the Mayor of Preston. Other recipients of the award include Sir Tom Finney
Tom Finney
Sir Thomas Finney, OBE is a former English footballer, famous for his loyalty to his league club, Preston North End, and for his performances in the English national side....
and Nick Park
Nick Park
Nicholas Wulstan "Nick" Park, CBE is an English filmmaker of stop motion animation best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep....
.
England captaincy
Michael Vaughan
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...
and vice-captain Marcus Trescothick
Marcus Trescothick
Marcus Edward Trescothick MBE is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England in 76 Test matches and 123 One Day Internationals. A left-handed opening batsman, he made his first-class debut for Somerset in 1993 and quickly established...
becoming unavailable for the first Test match against India, Flintoff was named captain of the England team and subsequently announced that he would be staying in India for the entire Test series, although he and his wife were expecting their second child. His wife gave birth to a son, Corey, shortly before the second Test on 9 March.
On the field, Flintoff was seen as a great success during the drawn series with India, with a 212-run victory in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. His contributions with both bat and ball ensured that he was named as the player of the series, with many commentators seeing Flintoff as someone who not only worked better under the responsibility but was also viewed as a great influence of an inexperienced side, which included many debutants, such as Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
, Owais Shah
Owais Shah
Owais Alam Shah is an English cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played for Middlesex between 1996-2010, before joining Essex CCC in the winter of 2010. He has represented England in all forms of the games.Between 2001 and 2009, he played 71 ODIs and 17 Twenty20 Internationals...
and Monty Panesar
Monty Panesar
Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, known as Monty Panesar , is an English cricketer who currently plays for Sussex. A left-arm spinner, Panesar played Test and one-day cricket for England until 2009. In English county cricket he played for Northamptonshire until 2009...
. Flintoff amassed four fifties in the series, and took 11 wickets, on unfriendly surfaces for seamers. Flintoff continued to captain England during the seven ODIs in India, although he was rested for two matches.
However, following a recurrence of his long-term ankle problem in May 2006, he missed both the ODI series against Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, and the first Test against Pakistan. It was later announced in July that Flintoff's rehabiltation had not been sufficient to quell the injury, and that further surgery would be required. He was thus ruled out for the entire series against Pakistan. Despite injury concerns, Flintoff was later named for the ICC Champions Trophy
ICC Champions Trophy
The ICC Champions Trophy is a One Day International cricket tournament, second in importance only to the Cricket World Cup. It was inaugurated as the ICC Knock Out tournament in 1998 and has been played every two years since, changing its name to the Champions Trophy in 2002...
, where he played as a specialist batsman, not as an all-rounder.
2006–07 Ashes series
2006-07 Ashes series
The 2006–07 cricket series between Australia and England for the Ashes was played in Australia from 23 November 2006 to 5 January 2007. Australia won the series and regained the Ashes that had been lost to England in the 2005 Ashes series...
in Australia. The series turned out to be a humiliating one for Flintoff, leading his side to five straight losses and thus losing the Ashes after having held them for the shortest time in history. In addition, he presided over England's worst ever defeat in an Ashes series, equalling the 1921 whitewash at the hands of the Warwick Armstrong
Warwick Armstrong
Warwick Windridge Armstrong was an Australian cricketer who played 50 Test matches between 1902 and 1921. An all-rounder, he captained Australia in ten Test matches between 1920 and 1921 and was undefeated, winning eight Tests and drawing two...
-led Australian team in the wake of World War I.
Flintoff's own play in the 2006–07 series, both bowling and at the crease, was generally deemed disappointing. He made only two scores over 50 in the series, his best bowling figures were 4/99 in the first innings of the First Test in Brisbane, and he failed to get 5 wickets in a match. Flintoff played in only one first-class game in the lead up to the series. He was initially undone by Australia's excellent seam bowling but his batting improved throughout the series as he got more match practice. A persistent ankle injury prevented Flintoff from bowling long spells at full pace and Australia's batsmen took advantage of this. According to Nasser Hussain during the tour he also had three or four warnings for inappropriate behaviour and binge drinking, including arriving hungover for a training session.
Flintoff also captained England for several of the subsequent 2006-07 Commonwealth Bank Series One Day International matches. Michael Vaughan's return from knee surgery was cut short by a hamstring injury and he was only able to play two matches, leaving Flintoff in charge for the remaining games. England qualified in the last game of eight group matches for the best-of-three finals against Australia, but reversed their poor form on tour with a 2–0 series win in the finals.
Flintoff contributed significantly with the ball in both matches, taking three wickets in the first match and allowing only 10 runs off 5 overs in the second as Australia chased a reduced total in a rain-hit match.
2007 Cricket World Cup
With Michael VaughanMichael Vaughan
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...
returning from injury for the Cricket World Cup
Cricket World Cup
The ICC Cricket World Cup is the premier international championship of men's One Day International cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council , with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament which is held every four years...
in the West Indies, Flintoff was replaced as captain but appointed England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
's vice-captain.
In the opening match of the tournament against New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...
Flintoff was out first ball in England's innings and failed to take a wicket, although his bowling was very economical conceding only 17 runs in 8 overs, and he took a stunning one-handed catch at slip to dismiss Ross Taylor
Ross Taylor
Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor , abbreviated in cricket scorecards to LRPL Taylor, but more commonly known as Ross Taylor, is a New Zealand cricketer and the current captain, preferred ahead of wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum. He has also captained the New Zealand Under-19 side in youth internationals...
for a duck. On the evening of England's defeat Flintoff – along with some other players and coaches from the England squad – indulged in some late night drinking in a night club, only two days before their vital match against Canada
Canadian cricket team
The Canada cricket team is the national cricket team representing Canada in men's international competition. It is run by Cricket Canada.While Canada is not sanctioned to play Test matches, the team does take part in One Day International matches and also in first-class games against other...
. In the early hours of the morning he was reported as having to be rescued after falling off a pedalo
Pedalo
A paddle boat or "pedalo" is a form of waterborne transport, primarily for recreational use, powered through the use of pedals....
– this quickly became known in the media as the "Fredalo" incident (a portmanteau of "Freddie" and "pedalo"). Flintoff and the others involved were reprimanded and fined and with Flintoff being stripped of the vice-captaincy and, in addition, he was suspended for the match against Canada. It was revealed by England coach Duncan Fletcher
Duncan Fletcher
Duncan Andrew Gwynne Fletcher OBE is a former Zimbabwean cricketer, formerly captain of the Zimbabwean cricket team and the current coach of the Indian Cricket Team. He has been appointed as coach of the Indian Cricket Team on April 27, 2011...
that Flintoff had had a number of previous warnings about his behaviour. Flintoff has since issued a public apology.
Flintoff returned to the England team for the last group match against Kenya, taking two wickets. In the Super 8 matches, Flintoff often excelled with the ball but failed to recover his batting form. Against Ireland he took 4–43 and scored 43 runs; against Sri Lanka he took 3–35 but was out for 2 and against Australia he took 1–35 but was out for 4. In the next match against Bangladesh Flintoff took 1–38 in 8 overs and scored 23 runs off 21 balls. Ultimately, he failed to influence an ailing English side and had a poor tournament. Michael Vaughan
Michael Vaughan
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...
later commented that Flintoff's pedalo antics had adversely affected team morale.
2007–09: Injuries, comeback, and retirement
Flintoff returned for a couple of games with Lancashire, in preparation for the West Indies tour of EnglandWest Indian cricket team in England in 2007
The West Indian cricket team toured England from 12 May to 7 July 2007 as part of the 2007 English cricket season. The tour included four Tests, two Twenty20 international matches and three One Day Internationals...
but he re-injured his ankle and was ruled out for the first Test which started on 17 May 2007. Having undergone another operation on the troublesome ankle, he missed the whole Test and one-day series against the West Indies, and was also ruled out for the subsequent Test series with India. Following several games for Lancashire, Flintoff returned for England in the first of seven ODIs against India on 21 August 2007. He bowled seven overs and ended with figures of one for twelve in England's 104-run victory. He hit an eventful nine runs during the second ODI; however, while fielding, he injured his knee and sat out England's 42-run victory in the third ODI. He returned for the 4th ODI on 30 August. Flintoff missed England's two narrow defeats to India in the fifth and sixth ODIs before taking three for 45 in the seventh, helping England to win the series four-three with a seven-wicket victory.
His ankle injury recurred during the end of the 2007 season, and, although he played in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, he did not accompany the England squad to Sri Lanka, and a fourth operation made it highly unlikely that he would play again before the summer of 2008, missing both the Sri Lankan Test Series and the 2008 tour of New Zealand. Flintoff remained "upbeat" about his career, however.
He was back in action for Lancashire early in the 2008 season, but a side strain ruled him out of contention for the home series against New Zealand. After again returning to action in county cricket, he was recalled to the England squad for the second Test against South Africa. He took his 200th Test wicket in the Third Test, trapping Neil McKenzie
Neil McKenzie
Neil Douglas McKenzie is a South African cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batsman who plays for South Africa, making his first appearance in 2000. Strong on the leg side, he is also a very good player of spin...
lbw
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
for 72. Flintoff bowled consistently against the South Africans, but South African coach Mickey Arthur
Mickey Arthur
John Michael "Mickey" Arthur is a South African cricketer who played South African domestic cricket from 1986 to 2001. He coached the South African national team from 2005 to 2010, and has been recently appointed coach of the Australia national cricket team.-Biography:Arthur was born in...
felt that he was too defensive. His batting also began to show promise as he consistently made starts, before being moved back up to bat at six when Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...
took over as captain. In the following one day series, Flintoff was an important player for England, leading Pietersen to describe him as "a superstar". Flintoff scored 78 in both the first and the third matches – he was not required to bat in the second – as well as 31 not out off twelve balls in the fourth, whilst taking three wickets in the same match. This led many pundits to speculate that Flintoff might just be back to his best. He won Man of the Series in the ODI home series against South Africa, where England won four-nil: the last match was washed out. He was both the top run-scorer and the top wicket-taker of that series. Still, though, his want of consistency frustrated the pundits. "Flintoff," wrote Peter Roebuck
Peter Roebuck
Peter Michael Roebuck was an English cricketer who achieved later renown as an Australian newspaper columnist and radio commentator. A consistent county performer with over 25,000 runs, and "one of the better English openers of the 1980s", Roebuck captained the English county side Somerset...
some time later, "is a fine cricketer who has never quite worked out how he takes wickets or score runs. Torn between hitting and playing, pounding and probing, he has performed below his highest capabilities."
On England's tour of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
Flintoff started the series well. In the first warm-up match against the Mumbai Cricket Association, he scored exactly 100. It was his first century for England since the Fourth Test of the 2005 Ashes. His batting did not follow with similar successes in India and the West Indies, but his bowling remained strong, with a dozen wickets in the Caribbean at under thirty apiece, followed by a hat-trick in the final ODI series, becoming only the third English bowler ever to do so.
In February 2009, the Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings is a franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu that plays in the Indian Premier League. Founded in 2008, the team is currently captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coached by Stephen Fleming, a former New Zealand cricketer. The team's home ground is the M. A...
of the Indian Premier League
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
bought Flintoff for USD 1,550,000 – a good $600,000 above his base price of $950,000. This makes him the highest-ever-paid IPL player, alongside compatriot Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...
, and surpasses Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team. He made his One Day International debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and a year later played his first Test, this time against Sri Lanka.Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC...
's $1,500,000. But Flintoff did not find success at the tournament, held in South Africa after the Mumbai attacks, as after a difficult first few matches he was sent home for surgery following another knee injury.
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
instalment of the last home Ashes in 2005, which year also accounted for his most recent Test five-for. "It's always been an Australian trait to over-rate players who have done well against them (just ask VVS Laxman)," wrote Lawrence Booth
Lawrence Booth
Lawrence Booth was Prince-Bishop of Durham and Lord Chancellor of England, before becoming Archbishop of York.-Life:A scion of the ancient Cheshire family of Booth which remained seated at Dunham Massey until the middle of the eighteenth century, Lawrence Booth started out reading both civil and...
. "But in the case of Andrew Flintoff, this phenomenon is getting so out of control you wonder whether Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
has returned to orchestrate a cunning mind-game. [...] In any case, does anyone honestly think a player with his fitness record will make it through a five-Test series condensed into less than seven weeks?" Flintoff did offer some hope with the willow in the Twenty20 Cup
Twenty20 Cup
The Twenty20 Cup was a cricket competition for English and Welsh county clubs.In 2010, it has been replaced by Friends Provident t20 as the domestic Twenty20 competition.-History:...
, however, hitting 93 off 41 balls for Lancashire against Derbyshire in June.
On 15 July 2009, Flintoff announced he would retire from Test cricket at the end of the 2009 Ashes Series
Australian cricket team in England in 2009
The Australia national cricket team toured Great Britain to play a series of cricket matches during the 2009 English cricket season. The team played five Test matches – one in Wales – seven one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals against England. The Australians also...
. He said that "Since 2005 I have just been plagued with injury so I've got the opportunity now to finish on a high by helping England to win the Ashes and it will give me great pleasure if I can play my last Test at the Oval and we can win the Ashes – it doesn't get any bigger than that." He was man of the match in England's victory at Lords in the Second Test Match, taking 5 wickets in the second innings after a fine display of fast bowling. On 23 August 2009, England defeated Australia at The Oval to seal a 2–1 series win, with Flintoff notably running out the Australian captain Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...
, ensuring Flintoff ended his England career on a high.
On 16 September 2010, however, Flintoff retired from all forms of professional cricket, having consulted with medical advisors. He still plays recreationally for Penwortham Cricket Club alongside his brother Chris Flintoff.
Individual records and achievements
- Flintoff is the second highest English wicket-taker in one-day international cricket with 159 wickets, and the 10th highest in Test cricket, with 218 wickets. These figures include wickets taken for the ICC World XI.
- He is also the 9th highest English run-scorer in one-day internationals, with a total of 2975.
- Flintoff hit Surrey's Alex TudorAlex TudorAlex Jeremy Tudor is an English cricketer who has spent two spells with Surrey as well as playing for Essex. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. He was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award during the 1997 and 1998 season...
for 34 runs (6–4–4–4–4–6–6–0) in an over at Old Trafford in 1998. The over included two no-balls that, under ECB regulations, counted for two penalty runs apiece, making a grand total of 38. - The highest score of his career at any level is 232 not out for St Anne's (Under 15) Cricket Club against Fulwood and Broughton. He recalls that "it was a 20-overs-a-side game, played on an artificial wicket, and I remember getting dropped when I'd scored just six. My opening partner David Fielding scored 60 not out and we got 319 for 0 in 20 overs. You don't forget days like that, whatever the standard you're playing in".
- Flintoff was LancashireLancashire County Cricket ClubLancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
's winner of the NBC Denis Compton AwardNBC Denis Compton AwardThe NBC Denis Compton Award is an annual award given to 'The Most Promising Young Player' at each of the 18 English first-class counties. A player may receive the award more than once.-History:...
in 1997. - Flintoff holds the record for the most sixes scored for England, beating Ian BothamIan BothamSir Ian Terence Botham OBE is a former England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. He was a genuine all-rounder with 14 centuries and 383 wickets in Test cricket, and remains well-known by his nickname "Beefy"...
's record of 67 with a six off India's Piyush ChawlaPiyush ChawlaPiyush Pramod Chawla is an Indian cricketer who has played for the India U-19 team and the Central Zone. His Hometown is Moradabad,. He is seen as a leg-spinning allrounder in domestic cricket, but has not fired as a batsman in the One Day International format...
in MohaliPunjab Cricket Association StadiumThe Punjab Cricket Association Stadium is located at Mohali, just outside the city of Chandigarh. It is popularly referred to as the Mohali Stadium. The stadium is home to the Punjab team. Punjab's second international cricket stadium has been approved by BCCI in Bathinda, Punjab. The...
on 11 March 2006. - Flintoff is only the seventh player to have batted on all five days of a Test match, achieving this feat at Mohali, in the same match in which he broke the sixes record.
Media career
In March 2010, Flintoff became a team captain on the Sky1Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
television sports panel show A League of Their Own
A League of Their Own (game show)
A League of Their Own is a comedy panel game that was first broadcast on Sky1 on 11 March 2010. It is hosted by Gavin and Stacey star James Corden and features Andrew Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp as team captains and Georgie Thompson and John Bishop as regular panellists, alongside two weekly...
, hosted by James Corden
James Corden
James Kimberley Corden is an English actor, television writer, producer and presenter. He is co-creator and star of BBC comedy shows Gavin & Stacey and Horne & Corden, and acted in the 2009 film Lesbian Vampire Killers....
. In December 2010, Flintoff became a guest commentator during a few matches in the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship
2011 PDC World Darts Championship
The 2011 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 18th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation.Phil Taylor was the defending champion, having won the 2010 tournament...
event.. He also current hosts a radio show on BBC Radio Five Live on a Monday night.
As of 2011 Flintoff has been named as the latest brand ambassador for big men's fashion brand Jacamo and is set to have his own range in 2012.
Autobiographies
He has written several books: Being Freddie, Freddie, Andrew Flintoff, My Life in Pictures and Ashes to Ashes.Family
He married Rachael Wools on 5 March 2005 at the 30 Pavilion Road Hotel in Knightsbridge, London. They have three children: a daughter, Holly (born 6 September 2004); and two sons – Corey (born 9 March 2006), and Rocky (born 7 April 2008). He has the names Rachael, Holly, Corey and Rocky tattooed on his left shoulder.Andrew's father, Colin, and his brother, Chris, both played cricket, with Colin still playing for Whittingham
Whittingham, Lancashire
Whittingham is a civil parish in the City of Preston, Lancashire, England. The parish measures east-to-west, from the outskirts of Longridge to the outskirts of Broughton, but only 1 mile north-to-south. Its population was 2,189 in 2001...
Cricket Club near Preston. During his innings of 167 against the West Indies
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
at Edgbaston in July 2004, one six off Jermaine Lawson
Jermaine Lawson
Jermaine Jay Charles Lawson is a West Indian cricketer who has played in 13 Tests and 13 ODIs.Lawson is a fast bowler capable of bowling over 150 km/h...
was hit high into the Ryder Stand and was almost caught by his father, who fumbled the ball and dropped it. Colin Flintoff remarked "If I'd taken it he'd have been the first Test batsman to be caught out by his dad!"
Test centuries
| |Match | |City/Country | |Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 137 | 13 | New Zealand | Christchurch Christchurch Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of... , New Zealand |
Jade Stadium | 2002 |
| 2 | 142 | 23 | South Africa | London, England | Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the... |
2003 |
| 3 | 102* | 33 | West Indies | St. John's St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda St John's is the capital and largest city of Antigua and Barbuda, a country located in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. St John's is located at... , Antigua and Barbuda |
Antigua Recreation Ground Antigua Recreation Ground Antigua Recreation Ground is the national stadium of Antigua and Barbuda. It is located in St. John's, on the island of Antigua. The ground has been used by the West Indies cricket team and Antigua and Barbuda national football team... |
2004 |
| 4 | 167 | 38 | West Indies | Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a... , England |
Edgbaston Edgbaston Cricket Ground Edgbaston Cricket Ground, also known as the County Ground or Edgbaston Stadium, is a cricket ground in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, England... |
2004 |
| 5 | 102 | 51 | Australia | Nottingham Nottingham Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group... , England |
Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of... |
2005 |
One Day International centuries
| |Match | |City/Country | |Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 106 | 73 | New Zealand | Bristol Bristol Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007... , England |
County Cricket Ground County Cricket Ground, Bristol The County Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in Bristol, England. It is in the district of Ashley Down. The ground is home to the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.... |
2004 |
| 2 | 123 | 74 | West Indies | London, England | Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the... |
2004 |
| 3 | 104 | 78 | Sri Lanka | Southampton Southampton Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest... , England |
Rose Bowl Rose Bowl, Hampshire The Rose Bowl is an English cricket ground used for county, One Day International and Test Matches. It is situated at West End, Hampshire, near Southampton, and is home to Hampshire Cricket. The design of the venue is set into an amphitheatre creating a bowl, hence the name... |
2004 |
Test five-wicket hauls
| |Match | |City/Country | |Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5/58 | 33 | West Indies | Bridgetown Bridgetown The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael... , Barbados |
Kensington Oval Kensington Oval The Kensington Oval is located to the west of the capital-city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. "The Oval" is one of the major sporting facilities on the island and is primarily used for cricket... |
2004 |
| 2 | 5/78 | 52 | Australia | London, England | The Oval The Oval The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval... |
2005 |
| 3 | 5/92 | 77 | Australia | London, England | Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the... |
2009 |
One Day International five-wicket hauls
| |Match | |City/Country | |Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5/56 | 125 | India | Bristol Bristol Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007... , England |
County Cricket Ground County Cricket Ground, Bristol The County Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in Bristol, England. It is in the district of Ashley Down. The ground is home to the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.... |
2007 |
| 2 | 5/19 | 141 | West Indies | Gros Islet Gros Islet Quarter Gros Islet is the newest town in Saint Lucia, having been recently promoted from a village to a town. It is the location of the Beausejour Cricket Grounds where both One Day International and Test Cricket is played. Parts of the 2007 Cricket World Cup and 2010 ICC World Twenty20 where played there... , Saint Lucia |
Beausejour Stadium Beausejour Stadium Beausejour Stadium is a cricket ground located near Gros Islet, Saint Lucia. It was completed in 2002 and currently accommodates 13,000 spectators... |
2009 |
Awards and honours
- Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBEOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
): 2006 - Freedom of the CityFreedom of the CityFreedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
of Preston: 2006 - England captain: 2006, 2006–2007
- Wisden Leading Cricketer in the WorldWisden Leading Cricketer in the WorldThe Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World award was introduced in 2004 to complement the long-standing Wisden Cricketer of the Year awards, which are still given to five players each year....
: 2005 - Wisden Cricketers of the YearWisden Cricketers of the YearThe Wisden Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season"...
: 2004 - PCA Player of the YearProfessional Cricketers' AssociationThe Professional Cricketers' Association is the representative body of past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales, founded in 1967...
: 2004, 2005 - ICC Player of the YearICC AwardsThe ICC Awards is a set of sports awards for cricket. The awards recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months...
: 2005 - ICC ODI Player of the YearICC AwardsThe ICC Awards is a set of sports awards for cricket. The awards recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months...
: 2004 - ICC World One-Day XIICC AwardsThe ICC Awards is a set of sports awards for cricket. The awards recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months...
: 2004, 2005, 2006 - ICC World Test XIICC AwardsThe ICC Awards is a set of sports awards for cricket. The awards recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months...
: 2006 - Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the YearCricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the YearThe Young Cricketer of the Year is an annual award voted by the Cricket Writers' Club for the best young cricket player in England and Wales, and has been awarded since 1950. Former recipients include Fred Trueman, Geoffrey Boycott, Ian Botham and David Gower....
: 1998 - Compton-Miller medalCompton-Miller medalThe 2005 Ashes Series in England saw the inauguration of the Compton-Miller medal for the Ashes Man of the Series award.The award is named after two great cricketers - the batsman Denis Compton of England and the all-rounder Keith Miller of Australia...
: 2005 - Sir Garfield Sobers TrophySir Garfield Sobers TrophyThe Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy is a cricket trophy awarded annually by the International Cricket Council to its chosen world player of the Year. It was first awarded in 2004 to Rahul Dravid....
: 2005 - BBC Sports Personality of the YearBBC Sports Personality of the YearThe BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of one titular award. Several new awards have been introduced, and , eight awards are presented. The oldest of these are the Team of the Year and...
: 2005 - BBC Sports Personality of the YearBBC Sports Personality of the YearThe BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of one titular award. Several new awards have been introduced, and , eight awards are presented. The oldest of these are the Team of the Year and...
Third Place: 2004 - NBC Denis Compton AwardNBC Denis Compton AwardThe NBC Denis Compton Award is an annual award given to 'The Most Promising Young Player' at each of the 18 English first-class counties. A player may receive the award more than once.-History:...
: 1997 - Walter Lawrence TrophyWalter Lawrence TrophyThe Walter Lawrence Trophy is an annual award made to the player who has scored the fastest century in English domestic county cricket that season, in terms of balls received...
: 1999 - MCC Spirit of Cricket Award: 2005
External links
- Andrew Flintoff photos & statistics at sporting-heroes.net
- Player Profile: Andrew Flintoff from Cricket Archive
- Roebuck, PeterPeter RoebuckPeter Michael Roebuck was an English cricketer who achieved later renown as an Australian newspaper columnist and radio commentator. A consistent county performer with over 25,000 runs, and "one of the better English openers of the 1980s", Roebuck captained the English county side Somerset...
. "Upwards, kicking and screaming." CricinfoCricinfoESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...
. 3 September 2008 (accessed 11 February 2009).
| England Squads |
|---|