Flintoff's stock now falls into the red
In The Sunday Telegraph Mike Atherton draws a comparison between Andrew Flintoff and the Northern Rock bank.
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
In The Sunday Telegraph Mike Atherton draws a comparison between Andrew Flintoff and the Northern Rock bank.
Andrew Flintoff is the Northern Rock of cricket. A once-powerful brand built from humble and parochial beginnings, now undermined by questionable management strategy with his stock currently in freefall and his future uncertain.
Unlike the account holders of Northern Rock, Flintoff's fans and sponsors have not withdrawn their support – after all, such sportsmen engender deeper feelings of goodwill than mere financial institutions – but they are beginning to feel a little short-changed. Flintoff hasn't played a Test match since January and the chances of him playing Test cricket this winter must now be slim.
Atherton warns that England’s management of Flintoff also leaves something to be desired.
It took an outsider like Ricky Ponting recently to articulate what has been obvious for a while, that Flintoff needs to give his ankle an immediate and complete break. It seemed a strange decision to play him against India, in a match irrelevant to England's immediate prospects. You could argue that he hasn't exactly been burdened with too much cricket of late, but rehabilitation and training is not the same as rest. That seems the only option now.
Martin Williamson is executive editor of ESPNcricinfo and managing editor of ESPN Digital Media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa