• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Is Flintoff Overrated?

Is Flintoff Overrated?

  • Yes

    Votes: 39 43.3%
  • No

    Votes: 49 54.4%
  • Don't No

    Votes: 2 2.2%

  • Total voters
    90

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Mingster said:
Enough to see he fully deserves his Test bowling average and that he is not an underrated bowler or batsman.
So which matches have you seen of his in the last year then?
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Craig said:
Which is pure speculation how well he would have done.
But if you look at the consistent form he's been in, it's likely he'd have done well (seeing as he has now tempered his extreme attacking instincts)

Mind you Craig, if he scored an unbeaten 300 then took 15 wickets, you'd still not rate him.
 

superkingdave

Hall of Fame Member
Flintoff is rated quite highly by many people, and is seen as a crucial part of the England team. In reality he rarely scores many runs and hardly ever takes many wickets in Test cricket. He occasionally plays an entertaining innings, but his failures are far more frequent than his successes.
I think that he symbolises English Cricket - just not good enough.
Neil Pickup said:
Ashley, listen up. You couldn't deceive an Under 9 with the pitiful excuse for flight in your "spin" bowling, which incidentally wouldn't turn on the dustbowl of the 1930s. Not only that, but it's too slow and I'd back Marc to cart you back over your own head for consecutive sixes. Go play for Spain.
Thought i'd ressurect this thread to see if anyones opinions have changed. For the batting i think he has really turned a corner over the last 12 months and his bowling is a lot more threatening. Does anyone still think he is overrated? And the last comment seems to have done the trick!
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
superkingdave said:
Thought i'd ressurect this thread to see if anyones opinions have changed. For the batting i think he has really turned a corner over the last 12 months and his bowling is a lot more threatening. Does anyone still think he is overrated? And the last comment seems to have done the trick!
Well Flintoff has certainly become more reliable and is now a really dangerous batter in both forms of the game. Just one thing to note though, he has been hammering the pretty weak New Zealand and West Indian attacks, last time he played against a strong bowling attack (Sri Lanka), he averaged 23. The real Test will come when he plays against South Africa and Australia.

With the help of Troy Cooley he has finally started to take some wickets, and can lay claim to being one of the most effective one-day bowlers around. In Tests he is an important part of the attack and can take crucial wickets, but will never run though a good Test team IMO. Always been a good fielder.

So yes my opinion has changed, but Flintoff has improved and I think my original comment was perfectly valid at the time it was written - Flintoff very rarely delivered despite his great reputation. He still needs to prove himself against Australia/South Africa/India etc before we can call him a world class Test player, already an outstanding one-day player (ranked in the top 10 for both batting and bowling).
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
My opinion is slowly changed.. I no longer think he is an over rated batsman..
He has to do some more work at test level in order to convince me about his bowling though...
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
a massive zebra said:
In Tests he is an important part of the attack and can take crucial wickets, but will never run though a good Test team IMO.

5 wickets against a strong Windies lineup - Lara, Chanderpaul and Jacobs aren't the biggest rabbits around.

And as for against SA - his batting wasn't too bad last summer!
 

SpaceMonkey

International Debutant
Thought id add that he became only the 2nd no6 in the history of test cricket to pass 50 in an innings 6 games in a row. (first being Sir Garfield Sobers). According to ch4 anyway.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
The only thing now is, what happens when this extraordinary form of this summer dries-up?
You can say "what if it doesn't", but the fact is, no-one can go on scoring the runs he has at the rate he has this summer, it just doesn't happen.
We saw it with Vaughan, and we'll see it again - just a question of when.
If he's smart, he'll know that. The question then will be, will he keep on averaging 30 or will he go back to averaging 19?
That will define whether he's truly the Bothamesque many want to believe he is. But one thing that is now certain is that he'll play all England games except where he's injured or rested for the next 6, 7 or 8 years.
 

Timewell

U19 Debutant
Flintoff certainly is NOT overrated. I think that we are seeing one of the greats of English crickets in the making here...and I seriously believe that Freddie could become a great. By this, I'm talking better than Botham...

Obviously he has a lot to do on the bowling front but I'd say his batting, at its best, is better than Beefy.
 

Simon

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Timewell said:
Flintoff certainly is NOT overrated. I think that we are seeing one of the greats of English crickets in the making here...and I seriously believe that Freddie could become a great. By this, I'm talking better than Botham...

Obviously he has a lot to do on the bowling front but I'd say his batting, at its best, is better than Beefy.
one of the greats, lol, thats pushing it, i love watching him bat, but at the moment i think his career his heading on a similar path to that of chris carins...
 

Swervy

International Captain
Richard said:
The only thing now is, what happens when this extraordinary form of this summer dries-up?
maybe this isnt just form...maybe he is now realising his potential, we may not have seen Flintoff get to his true purple patch yet...I say this because this kind of batting from him has been going for a good 12 months now,which is surely more than just form
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
marc71178 said:
It's more than just this summer...
No, his first-chance average in West Indies was a far-from-impressive (but still far-from-poor) 25. And in Sri Lanka he batted well once.
It's only been this summer that we've seen a mountain of runs.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Swervy said:
maybe this isnt just form...maybe he is now realising his potential, we may not have seen Flintoff get to his true purple patch yet...I say this because this kind of batting from him has been going for a good 12 months now,which is surely more than just form
So you think he is so good he can average 50-60 while playing the shots he plays and scoring at the pace he tends to score for the rest of his career?
In spite of the fact that no-one, except Bradman, has come close to doing so?
 

steds

Hall of Fame Member
Richard said:
It's only been this summer that we've seen a mountain of runs.
What about last summer against South Africa. It may not of been a Lara like spree but he scored his second test hundred followed by three consecutive fifties-he's been building up to this 'mountain of runs' seen this summer.
 

Top