Freddie the talisman

Andrew Flintoff is still the talisman for England he was in 2005 but he is no longer the heart of the team, only a very handy bonus when fit, writes Simon Barnes in the Times.

He got the upstart Hughes, befuddling him and inducing an inside edge, and a rather good catch from Matt Prior. Cue the next Rodin statue — legs once more straddled, chest inflated like a bellows, arms wide, hands high, no smile, gaze level: Freddie Rex. The entire team were ignited with hope and belief. Nothing to do but watch the next wicket fall. The snag was that it didn’t. Flintoff gave us a blazing six overs then took a break. Ricky Ponting and Katich set about digging in. It was as if a light had gone out. It was as if Australia and England had given themselves over to a ritual, a routine in which the England bowlers toiled without reward while the Australia batsmen moved gradually from safe to ominous, and Flintoff watched.

According to James Lawton in the Independent, England's attack, when it came right down to it, was Andrew Flintoff.

Meanwhile Flintoff's victim, Phillip Hughes makes for compelling viewing, writes Vic Marks in the Guardian.

Hughes disobeys most of the openers' rules. They are supposed to minimise risk at the start of an innings. The most common way to be dismissed against a new, hard ball is from an outside edge. So the received wisdom is to be wary outside the off stump, to make the bowlers come to you and then to clip them away on the leg-side. An inside edge usually goes nowhere; the outside edge is perilous. But Hughes does it the other way round. His back foot stays on leg stump and his eye is so good that he can hit anything slightly wide of off stump in an arc between extra cover and third man. It is tough for fielding captains to defend those areas square of the wicket.

In the same paper, Barney Ronay writes that being their first home Ashes series, Sky Sports have shaped their summer around hopes of another subscription-shifting grand bouffe of high-cholesterol Big Moments that 2005 was full of. But it's not like that any more.

"I. Don't. Think. They. Have bowled. To Hughes. That well," muttered Michael Holding, almost managing to convince you he really was cross. And as Andrew Flintoff finally beat Hughes' flailing bat David Lloyd erupted with: "Well bowled! That's a reminder of 2005!" Bumble, you felt like saying, it's OK. We understand. Times change.