Flintoff to Announce Retirement

[TT Boy]

Dale Steyn’s Cricinfo tribute is utterly bizarre. Best from Mike Selvey…

"My favourite was him catching Steve Harmison¹s first ball of the 2006-07 Ashes, that infamous wide in Brisbane that went straight to second slip. He caught it so nonchalantly, it was almost as if he knew it was coming. Had he been somebody who watched the edge of the bat and not the ball it might have kneecapped him, or hit him straight in the bollocks, which would have been even funnier."

 

[honestbharani]

Interesting article:

Andrew Flintoff's retirement: Another final farewell to a fine self-promoter | Cricket Features | Global | Cricinfo.com

Yes, there's a sadness that comes with the passing of a career that, in its pomp, embodied everything that is wonderful about sport at the highest level: the guts, the athleticism, the outrageous skill - particularly when cranking up the pace in the 2005 Ashes with a hint of reverse-swing to complement his bruising line of attack. But above all in Flintoff's case it was his down-to-earth qualities that endeared him to the nation. He became the people's champion precisely because every man in the country saw shades of themselves in his journey from the pub to the pedestal (and ultimately to the pedalo).

But equally, there's only so much applause that can be milked for any one performance, and right now, five years on from his defining hour, Flintoff is milking it ... bad. If he does go on to do the pantomime season - and Ladbrokes are already offering odds of 2-1 that he does - it can only be hoped there's a bloke waiting in the wings with a shepherd's crook to hoick him offstage at the curtain-call. Great performance and all that, Fred, but our hands are sore from clapping. Could you, please, just go now? (The answer to that, incidentally, is no ... despite the finality of today's announcement.)

...


But why then does his retirement leave so many so cold? Perhaps it's not true for the wider sporting public who still revere him, but those who've watched him at close quarters for the majority of his career baulk at the man he's become in recent years. Like cricket's version of David Beckham, Flintoff's undoubted gift for his chosen sport has been superseded by a penchant for self-promotion - to such an extent that the myth is now of greater significance than the fact, or indeed the stats.


...


Too many of Flintoff's final moments have been of this look-at-me variety, whereas the Fred of old cared more about how his efforts impacted on the wider team performance. When he announced his retirement on the eve of the Lord's Test last summer, for instance, eyebrows were raised about his thunder-sealing timing. And similar criticisms were voiced at The Oval today, even as a tumultuous climax to the County Championship was being contested at Flintoff's alma mater, Old Trafford. It may well be the case that he got the bad news from his doctor a day earlier, and wanted to vent it at the first opportunity, but it's hard to believe it was a coincidence.

Sums up my feelings about the guy. Juz think his head got a little bit too bloated since that 2005 Ashes.. And not to mention the way he came across during the Pieterson captaincy row... I still think he was the one mostly at fault there.

 

[GIMH]

Say what?

 

[honestbharani]

Say what?

Don't wanna rehash and I know u heart Freddie..


Don't have much against the guy but the last few years, he definitely came across as among those who think they are bigger than the game IMO..

 

[Jono]

Freddy fans dealing with what Sachin fans deal with. And when they defend their player, they get called fanboys.

Lol, swings and roundabouts.

 

[GIMH]

I just meant re the captaincy thing?

 

[GIMH]

Freddy fans dealing with what Sachin fans deal with. And when they defend their player, they get called fanboys.

Lol, swings and roundabouts.

Piss off nadal fanboy no-one wanted your input

 

[Jono]

Nadal > Freddy and Tendulkar

 

[GIMH]

Nadal<Luke Wright

 

[honestbharani]

Nadal<Luke Wright

lol.. expected u to say Nadal < Murray but that is even better.

 

[honestbharani]

I just meant re the captaincy thing?

Well, the part he played during the Pieterson Vs that coach controversy.. He is believed to have said he wanted both to say which was just a passive aggressive way to say KP should not be captain as he apparently said it is either him or the coach.. The feeling I got reading reports was that most in the team did not like that coach (Moores was it? ) and KP sorta paid the price for speaking up.. Obviously, all based on mostly speculation and newspaper reports.

 

[Jono]

Meh, you're reading into things Freddy said, when all he did was toe the "good media diplomat" line and not have a go at either of them. You can't read anything into that.

May as well have a go at Sachin saying he was surprised Dravid declared when Sachin was on 194 or whatever and read it as if he didn't want Dravid to ever be skipper.

Can make of statements what you want. Freddy was never implicated in having KP ousted at all.

 

[vcs]

I think both of them certainly had a role to play in it.. much as I detest KP's ego and (lack of) diplomatic skills, the captaincy debacle was probably not entirely down to him.

 

[Burgey]

Cheating **** tbh.

 

[honestbharani]

Meh, you're reading into things Freddy said, when all he did was toe the "good media diplomat" line and not have a go at either of them. You can't read anything into that.

May as well have a go at Sachin saying he was surprised Dravid declared when Sachin was on 194 or whatever and read it as if he didn't want Dravid to ever be skipper.

Can make of statements what you want. Freddy was never implicated in having KP ousted at all.

well, I dont say I have any real proof.. It is the feeling I got based on how he acted and his tone in those interviews more than anything else. Could well be wrong. But that is what I feel

 

[honestbharani]

I think both of them certainly had a role to play in it.. much as I detest KP's ego and (lack of) diplomatic skills, the captaincy debacle was probably not entirely down to him.

yeah this.. but would add I think Freddie came off to me as a bigger **** than KP then.

 

[vcs]

yeah this.. but would add I think Freddie came off to me as a bigger **** than KP then.

Off the field maybe, on the field Freddie has the kind of personality that is impossible to dislike, KP on the other hand is just a prick.

 

[honestbharani]

Off the field maybe, on the field Freddie has the kind of personality that is impossible to dislike, KP on the other hand is just a prick.

would agree with that. KP is no angel but it is only in this issue that I feel this way.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Fred clearly wasn't a man devoid of ego, in fact one would imagine few genuinely top class sportspersons are.

I've seen a few articles intimating that he was given the 06/07 captaincy because it "meant more" (read would've sulked more had he not been given it) than Strauss, which is a gash way to decide who should skipper a team and sort of suggests Fred was keen to be regarded as "top dog".

Just on KP, whatever one thinks of him, I doubt too many would dare to suggest we aren't a better side without Moores at the helm, which was the root cause of his ultimatum.

 

[cover drive man]

Great player, great character.