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No Ashes repeat yet: Flintoff's first Test at home since last summer proved stressful
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Britain woke up this morning to a sobering realisation. Andrew Flintoff
- the nation's hero, Mr Incredible, Superman, Leading Cricketer in the
World, etc - is capable of making a mess of things.
To be English yesterday was to experience two forms of disbelief, both
carrying a strong whiff of the 1990s. One went like this: they can't
really be dropping this many catches, can they? The odd four or five
we're used to, especially at Lord's where slip fielders can lose the
ball in the crepuscular background of the lower tiers, but an entire
innings-worth seems a bit much. The other went like this: the captain
can't be dropping this many clangers, can he?
This was Flintoff's first appearance in front of a home crowd since
England won the Ashes and his life changed for good. He has made it
quite clear that he regards some of the publicity with distaste, as
anyone with a good brain would, and for the last two days he captained
as if determined to prove that he is human after all. While doing many
things well, from batting (a pre-declaration cameo) to smiling (he
became more and more cheery as England snatched a draw from the jaws of
victory), he made five blunders:
1. Not having a third man. In England in May, third man is well named:
he's the first person you need after the wicketkeeper and first slip.
Not having one is like not having a fine leg. Sure enough, Sri Lanka
picked up dozens of runs down there. Never mind the dropped catches,
England could probably have won the match just by having a third man,
because the scoring was slow anyway and one of the seven men who made
half-centuries would surely have got frustrated.
2. Not having a short leg. Flintoff the bowler showed his usual
willingness to rough the batsmen up, and Sajid Mahmood matched him
snorter for snorter. But what's the point if you don't have anyone
under the helmet to snaffle those little pops and prods?
3. Overbowling himself. It is said of bowling captains that they either
give themselves too many overs or too few. In India, Flintoff disproved
the rule by getting it just about right. Here, he overdid it almost as
glaringly as he did with the drinks cabinet on the open-top bus last
year. He handled himself as if trying to join the long Lancashire
tradition of slave-driving bosses. Half the point of having five
bowlers is that Flintoff can be used sparingly. But he gave himself
68.3 overs out of 254.3 - more than a quarter of the total. If any
other captain had done it to him, you'd call it cruel. If he had been
taking wickets, it might have been hard to take himself off. But the
harder he worked, the less he achieved. His strike rate in the match
was 102, compared to 60 for Hoggard and 57 for Mahmood. This was
Flintoff regressing to the way he bowled two years ago - slower (seldom
above 84mph), more economical and less incisive than his Ashes self.

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Flintoff's handling of Monty Panesar was puzzling
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4. Underbowling Monty Panesar. Out of 199 overs in Sri Lanka's second
innings, Panesar was entrusted with only 27. Flintoff treated him as if
he were one of eight bowlers. And the ball kept following him in the
field, so Panesar was forever doing what he is not very good at
(running, sliding, picking up and throwing) and seldom doing what he is
there to do - bowl slowly, tease batsmen with flight and guile, plug up
an end, and pick up the odd wicket. On Saturday, he did get a decent go
late in the day, and rose to the challenge, taking two for 21 off 15
overs. Yet over the next two days, he was given only 12 overs out of
135. It was as if Flintoff had sent him to the naughty step for not
being a good enough fielder. But if that had been the idea, half the
team would have had to join him.
5. Enforcing the follow-on. With hindsight, it is tempting to knock
Flintoff's declaration, which came an hour earlier than the pundits
expected. But he got that right. He sensed that Sri Lanka were
vulnerable, and rather than settling for a wicket or two before the
close on Friday, he was rewarded with six. Next day, taking wickets
became a lot harder as the tail wagged and Mahmood blew hot and cold as
he does. The signs were there. With a lead of 359 in his pocket,
Flintoff would have been better off batting again, rattling up 200 off
40 overs, and sending in the Sri Lankans to bat last, thoroughly
demoralised - indeed de-Muralised, as Murali's bowling would have been
taken out of the game. In a current Sky trailer, Flintoff is shown
asleep. He surely was when he asked Sri Lanka to follow on.
Going into this match, England thought they had four captains - the
injured Michael Vaughan, the recovering Marcus Trescothick who has done
the job in two Tests, Flintoff who started so brightly in the Indian
Test series, and Andrew Strauss who shared with Flintoff in the Indian
one-dayers and did well. Now it looks as if they only have one.
Trescothick is still finding his feet again, Strauss needs to find his
hands, and Flintoff has feet of clay after all. He's still a national
treasure and a great allrounder, but he's not Mr Infallible: in fact
(whisper it), he may be more of a Ricky Ponting, a wonderful player
best left to play. Vaughan's knee has just become even more important.
Tim de Lisle is a former editor of Wisden. These days he just edits
www.timdelisle.com.