G Dean: Fearless 'Freddy' takes a bow (20 Jul 1998)

20 July 1998

Fearless 'Freddy' takes a bow

By Geoffrey Dean

ALMOST exactly a year ago Andrew Flintoff smote a maiden first-class hundred against Hampshire at Southampton. Over a drink that evening Matt Hayden confessed he had never seen a teenager hit the ball so hard or so cleanly in his native Australia. One-up for England in the power stakes, at least.

You will be hard pushed to find a more likeable young cricketer off the field than 'Freddy' Flintoff, as he is known within the game. But on the field, and particularly with a bat in his hand, intimidation oozes in the bowler's direction from a rippling, athletic 6ft 4in frame reminiscent of Ian Botham.

There is a physical presence about the 20-year-old Lancastrian from Preston that English crowds are going to love when he settles into international cricket, as surely he will even if he does not make the cut next Thursday. But to bracket Flintoff as merely a power player would be a mistake. He is much better than that. His stroke selection is impressive, he plays immaculately straight, times the ball as much as he bludgeons it, and picks up bowlers' length very quickly.

This makes him difficult to bowl to, particularly for seamers as he loves to use his long reach to get forward to drive in the 'V'. If, in trying to drag their length back to stop him driving, bowlers pitch fractionally too short, Flintoff is quick to pull. He plays the shot savagely and at times spectacularly.

Following his remarkable hitting in an eight-ball over from Alex Tudor last month - in a championship rather than a one-day game - when he clubbed three sixes and four fours, Lancashire have not been shy to use his name to try to boost their gates. Their marketing slogan for today's day-night match against Worcestershire at Old Trafford reads: "There will be explosive action, music throughout, barbecue and hog roast, Caribbean band and, of course, Andrew Flintoff."

Flintoff's bowling was clearly an important factor in his selection. He did not bowl in his four championship appearances last year, nor on the England A tour of Sri Lanka in the winter, when an X-ray on a troublesome back revealed that he had curvature of the spine. He was ruled out of the last two A Tests, but this season he has been operating at brisk medium on a regular basis and has picked up useful championship wickets, such as those of Stuart Law and Graeme Hick.

On the England Under-19 tour of West Indies three years ago Flintoff was called in as a replacement opening bowler and took five for 39 in the first innings of the first Test in Trinidad. "He has the potential to bowl at serious pace," says David Lloyd, the England coach.

There is room for improvement in his batting against quality spinners. Sri Lanka, he says, helped this part of his game, even though he had only one Test innings. He still made a strong impression there, and his leadership qualities shone through when he talked round those players who favoured aborting the tour after the Kandy bomb.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)