Flintoff's farewell
Andrew Flintoff played his final Test innings on Saturday at the Oval
Ashwin Achal
25-Feb-2013
Andrew Flintoff played his final Test innings on Saturday at the Oval. The allrounder scored a quickfire 22 in an effort to get the England score moving. Stephen Fay, in the Independent on Sunday, describes the farewell innings and comments that Flintoff means much more to the game than his career statistics suggest.
As he approached the dressing room steps, he swivelled to the left and raised his bat to the crowd and then turned and repeated the gesture to the members in the Pavilion. It was a modest gesture by a remarkable cricketer whose Test performances have only rarely reached the peaks of which he was capable, but who never lost the affection of his large and loyal audience. So great is the interest still that Fred's Knee has sometimes seemed to be the biggest sports story of the summer.
In the Observer, David Hopps describes Flintoff as a Saturday afternoon batsman, an uncomplicated man naturally committed to simple fun. Hopps goes on to wonder what a sociable man like Flintoff would do, now that he will have plenty of free time after retiring from Tests.
This had the makings of Flintoff's perfect Saturday afternoon: an England lead of 340, Australia under the cosh and an expectant Oval crowd humming with the belief that the Ashes were almost won. He had the licence to swing the blade, not that permission really mattered. A Flintoff batting farewell should not be legislated for. It had to be unlicensed, untaxed, uninsurable.
In the same paper, Will Buckley pays tribute to Flintoff, the 'most glorious of amateurs'.