The Corridor

Recent Posts

PLEASE NOTE The Corridor is moving grounds at the moment. This is the old site, and comments have been disabled. Check back tomorrow and we should be safely ensconced at our new home


Flintoff to play final Test despite injury

By Will 3 years ago, mid-January Leave a comment on this post

Andrew Flintoff needs ankle surgery but will still play in the 5th Test. Importantly, this is a medical decision as much as the management’s, yet I can’t help fearing it increases the chances of him worsening the injury further. The article also implies he’ll play in the one-day-internationals (7 I think - pretty much back-to-back), however the inclusion of Kevin Pietersen in England’s ODI squad suggests he could provide cover.

Glenn McGrath has overcome ankle surgery - despite the odds - and has obviously bounced back to his best, confirming his initial view that the surgery could lengthen his career. England will hope Flintoff can recover as well as McGrath has, so the two can battle it out this summer. England minus Flintoff = disaster.

Tags: , , |

4 Responses to “Flintoff to play final Test despite injury”

  • Perry Middlemiss wrote:
    January 19th, 2005 at 5.04 am

    I can’t believe that the English team management would even contemplate playing Flintoff in the final test against South Africa, let alone the one-dayers that will follow. I suppose the argument could be made that the Test Series is still in the balance and he’s an integral member of the team, but if you look at his work in the past few Tests and that of the matches during the English summer, they are miles apart. He is struggling to get to the crease when he bowls, and his batting (136 runs at 19.43) is not all that flash.

    I don’t know how bad his ankle injury is, nor how long it will take for him to recover, but the up-coming Ashes series needs him to be as fit as he can be. And who is going to remember the outcome of the England v. South Africa 2005 One-Day series in 2 months?

    Forget about it. Send him home and get him fit. As an Australian I want to see him in the English line-up when we play there next. When he’s on song he’s got a touch of arrogance about him. England, and the Ashes series, needs that.

  • Will wrote:
    January 19th, 2005 at 7.56 pm

    I hear you Perry - it’s pretty incredible. I can sympathise with the management for wanting him to play this final Test - but SEVEN ODIs? No way - get him out. By playing he could threaten his future in the game. Big, heavy bloke bowling 85-88mph puts so much pressure on that ankle.

    Agree with all you’ve said re him and The Ashes. We (The Great Aussie And English Cricket Fans) *need* him. Aussies should take to him I hope, although I don’t think in the same way as you did with Darren Gough(!) I remember Tubby Taylor (or maybe SWaugh) saying, when asked “Who in the current England side is good enough to play for Australia”…and he said…”None of ‘em. Well, we’ll have Gough as 12th man to keep the spirits up.” Something along those lines…I digress.

  • Moz wrote:
    January 19th, 2005 at 9.11 pm

    Latest news suggests that he will probably be coming home after the 5th Test, which is good news. Collingwood isn’t in the same class as a bowler but he had at least one good innings against the Windies in the NatWest Series last summer, and showed he could hit sixes. For a few years now England have been using the one-day side to blood new players, and whilst it hasn’t always produced brilliant results, it has given some players a good introduction to the pressures of International Cricket (Strauss being the obvious example). Given that Pieterson’s ‘debut’ against Zim wasn’t the toughest cricket imaginable I reckon they may bring him in to try to fill Flintoff’s boots as a pinch-hitter (not the easiest of tasks). That still leaves a huge hole in the bowling, although KP has some off-spin, and Bell (if he plays) bowls Collingwood-style medium pace, maybe somewhat better. I think Eng. will turn in a respectable performance even without Freddie (though i don’t expect them to win the ODI series) and it’s not worth risking his fitness for the Ashes.

  • Will wrote:
    January 19th, 2005 at 9.53 pm

    Quite agree Moz about Pietersen. He, with Bell, are 2 of “Team England’s” big-guns who carry a lot of hope on their shoulders. Pietersen in particular who, apparently, hits it as hard as Fred. His stance at the crease reminds me of Chris Cairns actually…

    It’ll be fun to see the Saffers sledge him and how he copes.

    The concern is that Flintoff is irreplaceable; he’s a front-line bowler, not a part-timer, and could play in the side just as a bowler. Batting is arguably his stronger suit, but his bowling just keeps on improving - he’s also surely the unluckiest RFM bowler in cricket! Never known such bad luck.


    • « Do you read this via RSS? | Main | How times can change - or not. A South African journalist writes »