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Hopefully it is not the beginning of the end for Freddie. It depends entirely on what is actually wrong with his ankle and whether, if corrected, it can be regain full strength. If it can, then he should have quite a few more years of significant bowling in him.
One way or another it should give him plenty of practice with his batting. Which he needs.
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Beginning of the end for Flintoff?
By Will last year, at the end of May Leave a comment on this post
It might be premature to say this, but Andrew Flintoff’s latest ankle surgery could signal the beginning of the end. If that’s too grand a statement then, at the very least, I cannot see him leading England’s bowling attack ever again (certainly not in the way he did in 2004-05 and especially during the Ashes).
The other alarming problem is he’s forgotten how to bat. How, then, will he get back into the team if he is not firing in either discipline? For his captaincy? Er, perhaps not.
Tags: andrew-flintoff, ankle, surgery |
8 Responses to “Beginning of the end for Flintoff?”
May 31st, 2007 at 12.28 am
May 31st, 2007 at 1.39 am
It depends what you mean by “the end”. If you mean his career, then certainly not. If you mean that he’ll never hit his great heights again.. then yes, that’s very much possible. Surgery on the same part of the body twice.. three times? is never good news. Cricketers’ peaks are 25-35 and with Flintoff into the second half of that, it’s not unreasonable to say that he’ll never be as good again.
It’s especially tough on a fast bowler - it’s the batsmen that get better and better as they go along, accruing greater shot selection. Spinners do it too. But a fast bowler? They generally have to change their action and lose some pace. The best manage to do this and retain their stopping power by focusing on accuracy. As this blog’s handy “related posts” point out, McGrath managed it (although he was never really out-and-out fast). Flintoff might have to reign in his action a bit when he comes back.
I’m not so worried about the batting; that’s all in his head.
May 31st, 2007 at 6.20 am
I notice in the ads on the left here that he’s now 40% off. 
May 31st, 2007 at 6.21 am
Funny - after submitting the last comment, the ads changed, and now he’s 42% off. He’s diminishing quickly.
May 31st, 2007 at 10.04 am
Well, Alan R, it’s down to 37% now — maybe someone is having a joke in the publishing business. 
I don’t know — I can’t count how many times I’ve read that such-and-such a player’s career could be over. It’s practically never true. I think Freddie is still suffering from the winter, when he was brought in to captain in the Ashes while barely fit. He was having trouble with his ankle in the Test series and I was amazed they didn’t rest him for the CB one-day series because he was clearly physically and mentally exhausted after the 5-0 thrashing. He’s been overused while barely fit as a bowler and his confidence has been shot to heck as a batsman. Neither is irreparable.
May 31st, 2007 at 10.09 am
He’s 44% off now which is really some depreciation rate. I value him highly though - am reading his autobiography Being Freddie at the moment and it is the ideal soporific - no need for sleeping pills - 5 mins of Fred and you’re out like a light - as it were.
June 1st, 2007 at 9.51 am
England need to start seriously planning for a long term future without him. It seems that the chances of a full recovery are 50/50. I like those odds when I’m tossing a coin, but not when it’s someone’s career.
June 2nd, 2007 at 12.39 am
I hope you are not right. For England to do well in tests, one dayers, or 20/20, they need Flintoff with the ball if not the bad. I doubt he will have much of a international career if he isn’t able to bowl.
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