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England will miss Flintoff

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 19/07/2009

England's talismanic all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will bow out of the Test match arena at the end of the Ashes series, having left an indelible mark on the game.

The man known as Freddie has been a pivotal figure for many years in the England set-up and was the undoubted inspiration for the 2005 Ashes success.

As his good mate Steve Harmison recently observed: "When Ian Botham retired it probably took 20 years to get another cricketer who could do somewhere near what Beefy could do.

"Someone to bowl at 92, 93, 94 miles per hour, bat in the top six which he has done for England in the past and stand at second slip - it's a massive, massive hole to fill."

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Harmison is not wrong, as Flintoff's influence goes far behind the cold, hard statistics of his career.

He averages less than 32 with the bat in Tests and has only taken two five-wicket hauls in 77 matches, but he is worth a place in any side in the world.

Fred has the ability to drag the best out of others due to the force of his personality, meaning that the team as a whole can perform as more than the sum of its parts.

Four years ago, his hard-hitting batting and ferocious 90mph bowling did much to unsettle the Aussies and tip the series in England's favour.

Since then injuries have hampered his progress, but the memories of a fit and firing Flintoff will live long in the memories of all those who witnessed it.

Certainly Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting was impressed, saying: "If you look at his bare statistics, they probably don't rate that flatteringly, but as far as someone that has an impact on the way a team plays and performs then he seems to be right up there."

It is that which will be almost impossible to replace in a hurry, the ability to inspire the rest of the team.

Flintoff is without doubt the first England all-rounder to live up to the lofty tag of being the next Ian Botham, now England face the tough task of finding the next Andrew Flintoff.

There are few obvious candidates around the counties at the present time, although Yorkshire's Tim Bresnan has shown plenty of promise in his short international career to date.

However, the most obvious candidate is Bresnan's county colleague Adil Rashid, although he is a rather different operator to Flintoff.

A leg-spinner of some promise, Rashid is also a wristy, right-hand batsman of some class and at just 21 years of age he has plenty of time on his side to make the jump up in class.

He would not so much a replacement for Flintoff as a progression towards a different era for the England team.

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