The end of Andrew Flintoff, the cricketer
Andrew Flintoff’s failure to recover from the knee injury that has sidelined him since last year’s Ashes has raised major questions about his cricketing future
Tariq Engineer
25-Feb-2013
Andrew Flintoff’s failure to recover from the knee injury that has sidelined him since last year’s Ashes has raised major questions about his cricketing future. But in the Guardian, Mike Selvey says it doesn't matter anyway, because Flintoff the cricketer has been replaced by Flintoff the personality.
The emphasis is changing. He is not Fred the cricketer any more, he is Fred the personality. He is earning millions through not playing cricket, the income from which would be small beer by comparison. It would be hard to believe that he has exiled himself in Dubai primarily for tax reasons or warm weather rather than getting paid a large sum to promote the place. A major high street bank rewards him handsomely because he is an "A list" companion of choice for major clients. He is going off on a motorcycle "odyssey" across India for some TV company or other. The cash is rolling in and will continue to do so.
In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain also writes that Flintoff's England career may be a thing of the past.
... the fact is that Flintoff's body has reached the point where he will never fully recover and he can only ever be patched up. We have seen it before with Michael Vaughan, Ashley Giles and Simon Jones. This has been going on for a long time and, basically, Freddie's body is just packing up in terms of him being a top-flight cricketer again.
Stephen Brenkley says in the Independent that Flintoff is in danger of becoming an irritatingly peripheral figure, hanging around, determined to have a few more pay days.
Tariq Engineer is a former senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo