equatorSome people don’t try very hard in life.
Mostly because they are rubbish at things.
But when someone who is very good at something doesn’t try very hard, it really pisses you off.
“If I had their talent…”
That is why a lot of people liked Freddie.
He was freakishly talented, and yet he wouldn’t cruise, he would bowl spells that his body couldn’t handle, time and time again, and he leaves the game because of how much he put in every time he played for his country.
He may not have the record of Jacob Oram, or Jacques Kallis, but he had more balls than the two of them combined.
That doesn’t mean he wasn’t over rated by many, he definitely was.
People looked beyond the fact he only had two really great test years. Two years when his head and body were in the right space.
In those two years he was a monster. He ate up countries in that time. Runs, wickets and scary presence.
4 of his 5 hundreds were in those years, both of his 5 wicket hauls as well.
Batting average of 43, bowling average of 27, and Richter scale of 10.
He was a flaming ball of testosterone during that period.
No one could touch him. But it took a toll, as did captaincy, drinking, and his heavy frame.
He was the sort of guy you wanted in your side, the reason he turned from a fat lazy bastard into FREDDIE was because Bob Simpson once called him a cunt.
That sums him up. He wants to show he is trying to do his best at all times, and when Simpson said he wasn’t, he stepped up so much that he carried his side to an Ashes victory.
What a heart the big fella must have. An industrial strength organ that can push through pain barriers.
That spell in the West Indies when he was clearly injured is one of my all time favourite spells.
Watching it was like watching a broken boxer keep throwing the punches, he still had the heart, but the body wasn’t there. It reminded me of Ali in his fight against Larry Holmes. He knew he had the spirit in him, but his body wouldn’t let the magic come out.
Freddie wouldn’t stop though, and that is when I thought Freddie was gone.
He bowled 15 overs that day, 15 blood stained overs, and took no wickets.
And that is Freddie, all effort, little results.
He is more a folk hero than an actual hero.
But I don’t care, I would pay to watch the big fella hit the wicket any day of the week, if I was picking someone to play for my life, I’d rather have a drunkard with a big heart than a professional cricketer with his eye on the clock.
Test cricket needs guys like him, and today test cricket is a little worse off knowing that he will be leaving it.
Thanks for the brutishness Freddie.
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Excepting the two years you have mentioned, he has been a liability for England.
Ottayan’s last blog post..Flintoff Quits Tests
What a load of rubbish Ottayan – we’ve plenty of liabilities – but Fred’s not been one of them
Nice tribute Jrod
Nice work, excellent tribute.
Flintoff, could maybe should have defined the England team for a decade since 2000. Such a shame it wasn’t to be. I think he wanted this series to get redemption from 2006/7, sadly not to be. Do you think Strauss over-bowled him at Cardiff? It doesn’t matter in the grand scale of his injuries, but it did seem excessive.
Anyway, I had my own attempt at a few words on fred at my blog http://ashesinsomniac.blogspot.com
sahildutta’s last blog post..Freddie Departs…
The likes of Freddie will rarely be seen in the future. The freakishly talented, big-hearted, big living cricketer is a dying breed in the international game today. Roy was pushed out of a team where drinking a few beers with your mates became a liability. Freddie, who has had his own problems with drinking, will no longer put on the whites for England, pushed out by a body that could not stand up to the demands his heart made. There is no doubt he is one of the personalities of the modern game, who by his very presence in the side raised the spirits in the dressing room and the level of hope among the supporters. Test Cricket is gradually on its way to becoming as colorless as the white clothing it is best known for.
Yenjvoy’s last blog post..Collingwood
Excellent tribute. His records are meaningless when debating his heart and his presence when on the pitch. Arguing that it is a good day for England or cricket that Fred has called it quits is ignorance to the Dean Jones degree
We will miss him. He is worth two of any of the current England XI.
Rob’s last blog post..Selected quotes (made up of course)
A fitting tribute to a gutsy cricketer but did you suggest that Mr Flintoff is in possession of 4 testicles? Or is it possible that Oram and Kallis only have one each? Which would make it harder for them to be either a perfect boyfriend or an especially evil penguin I should have thought.
Martyd’s last blog post..Fred The Stretch
Freddie – for a self confessed batting allrounder, he was a magnificent bowler. Even that first spell in Cardiff last week was a joy to behold.
I always thought he batted too high in the order – his technique was never great, but he could certainly hit a ball! I suspect he would have a higher average if he stayed at 6 or 7. Batting at 4 was a joke.
I also had the pleasure of watching that series in Pakistan way back, when he scraped into the side as a batsmen who bowled mediums. He literally could not make a run but his bowling got faster and faster and better and better and by the end of the series he had ripped the new ball out of Gough’s hands and become the Freddie we know today.
As for captaincy, the ‘forgotten ashes of 06/07′ showed that he was the next Botham in the a way the MCC wouldn’t want him to be – he can lead a team by actions but is unable to captain.
Oh, and being drunk on the day of a game for your country is unacceptable. (you two Roy).
Wonderful player, though.
Yep, a giant of the game. I detest seeing England beat the Aussies, but Freddie was magnificent in that series. His penetration with the ball was magnificent and his ‘Infredible’ (TM) celebrations summed up just how much the Ashes meant to him, his team and the Aussies too I reckon. A deserved legend of the game and sad that injury has prevented him from maintaining the rage in the period that followed.
i think the only two englishmen i ever watched who really wanted to beat the aussies, i mean rip their throat out beat them, were simon jones and flintoff.
as i am pakistani and hence prone to conspiracies, i believe it was cricket australia that injected them with some bone eating disease leading to their sudden demise.
karachikhatmal’s last blog post..Phallic Phallacies