Web Extra: Ready, Freddie?

“Only a few people know what I’m really like,” says England’s captain and the world’s best all-rounder

By Stephen Fay

From Reader's Digest Magazine

Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff is the best all-round cricketer in the world. He was the inspiration in the celebrated England team that beat Australia last year to regain the Ashes for the first time in 19 years. A giant of a man, standing 1.9m tall in his socks and broad in the shoulders, his genial personality has charmed people in and out of cricket.

His only weakness is in his muscles and his joints. Over the years, he has been like a pincushion, taking injections to get him on to the field and, when they no longer worked, under-going operations on his groin and his ankle. The most recent ankle operation in July led to a three-month rehabilitation course to prepare him for the Ashes return bout in Australia.

Flintoff is a Lancashire man, from Preston, who first showed promise as a nine-year-old. As an adolescent, his ebullience led a coach to call him Fred, after the cartoon character Fred Flintstone. He was first picked for England when he was 20 and grew gradually into his dual role as a dangerous fast bowler and an explosive batsman. Last December he was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

When Flintoff talked to us – in a box overlooking the cricket ground at Old Trafford where he first played professional cricket – the plaster had been off the ankle for some weeks and he had just finished his daily session in the gym. He already looked lean and fit, eyes shining no less brightly than the diamond stud in his left ear.

RD: You have a mental coach called Jamie Edwards who thinks there are two Flintoffs. One is Andrew, the other is Fred. Who still calls you Andrew?

Flintoff: My wife Rachael, my mum, my dad, that’s about it. Not even my brother anymore. This double life is something I quite enjoy. Only family and friends know what I’m really like off the pitch. At home I’m Andrew and I probably feel more comfortable being that person, more quiet with Rachael, looking after the kids, Holly [aged two] and Corey [born in March]. I’ve done a few of the night shifts; I’m not very good at waking up, but I try to do my fair share.

Fred walks out on to the cricket field and laps it up. Some of my celebrations make me cringe, but I’m more comfortable in my own skin now than I was five years ago. I enjoy playing cricket and I enjoy being at home and having time with the kids. It’s a balance between the two.

But I can never totally switch off from cricket. It’s such a big part of my life. When I’m working hard in the gym, I’m thinking, When am I going to get back? When I’m on the rowing machine I start thinking about what I experienced last summer and what I enjoyed – and now we’re going to have it all over again.

RD: Fred is a celebrity now. Fred goes to parties with the Beckhams and can raise lots of money for his Lancashire Benefit Fund that assists sick children and their parents – just by sitting down to dinner with wealthy fans.

Flintoff: The Benefit is very bizarre, to be honest. At one dinner, I was sat there with my missus and Elton John was at the table, chattering away; he’s got massive knowledge of all sports. Martin Johnson [the former England rugby captain] was sitting there talking about rugby. It’s surreal. I don’t really see myself as a celebrity. It’s through playing cricket and what happened against Australia last year. Detaching myself from that world at home is the way I’m dealing with all the attention.

RD: How do you cope with life after the Ashes?

Flintoff: I’m with a management company. They try to take all the hassle away so I can concentrate on the cricket. I speak to Neil Fairbrother [a former England and Lancashire cricketer who looks after his affairs] two or three times a day about all sorts of things – such as buying a house. Rachael has a bit to say too, but when we found one we liked, I said, “I’ll go and ask the company.”

RD: Do you know how much you earn?

Flintoff: I’ve got a rough figure. We’re doing all right with the Benefit though. We’re on target to raise a million pounds for charity. And we’re going to set up a Flintoff Foundation to do two or three fund-raising events every year.

RD: It was different five years ago when you lived alone in Manchester.

Flintoff: Instinct kept me going then. Instinct determines what you do. I was enjoying going out with my mates and I was neglecting what I was doing on the cricket field. I knew I wasn’t playing well.

Bob Simpson, Lancashire’s coach, simply said “Fred, you’re a ****” – it was a very bad word. And then I got a bollocking in the dressing room from my managers. The penny dropped. I thought, I’m missing out on a lot here. And I did something about it.

But when we decided to get married, my cricket had no part to play in it. I wanted to get married because I love Rachael. Having met her and spent time with her, my life has got better and so has my cricket. They go hand in hand.

RD: Dave Roberts, your physiotherapist, trainer and friend, says that when you’re down you’re very, very down, and you’ve had plenty of experience of bad injuries. When you’re down, do you wonder whether you’ll be able to come back to Test cricket yet again?

Flintoff: I put faith in the people I work with. I put faith in Dave and in the specialist who opened me up, saw something wrong and was confident he could do something about it. The problem was a tendon that runs from your big toe along the bottom of your foot past your Achilles heel, called the flexor hallucis longus. But I’m confident. I’ve got to be.

I think belief comes with success. There were doubts when I was younger, but once you’ve done well at the top level over a long period, you believe you can perform. When I have a low score, I don’t think, Oh God!. It happens.

People say I should be more careful, but I’d sooner play a full part in the game, bowl as many overs as the situation dictates.

Just hanging in there and not playing the part you want to, that would kill me. I’d rather just crack on and maybe suffer the consequences, rather than look after myself and hang on for a few more years.

RD: You were a school chess champion in Preston. Does the discipline of chess help you see a strategy when you are captaining England?

Flintoff: Yes and no. In both you think out your moves based on a good idea of what the other bloke’s going to do. So chess helps with strategy. But cricket is more proactive than reactive – there’s a moment in a match when everything can change in a short space.

Ultimately, you rely on your gut instincts, you go with your feelings at that particular time. That’s how I play my cricket. There’s a degree of planning and preparation, but instinct’s the big one.

RD: Last year’s Ashes ended brilliantly but started badly for you at Lord’s.

Flintoff: I scored 0 and 3. It’s hard to explain. I’d never played against the Aussies and everyone made a thing of it. I think expectancy on the team and myself got to us.

Normally I sit on the balcony; I watch the game and I shout and scream and cheer the lads on. But I just sat in my chair at Lord’s. That’s not how I do things. I like to be here, there and everywhere, but I wasn’t.

By the last Test at The Oval, the bowling came out all right. I was never going to get tired. Duncan Fletcher [England’s coach] says tiredness is in the mind and I probably proved his theory. I was asked at dinner the night before, “What do you think’s going to happen tomorrow?” I said, “Well, I’m going to bowl all day.” And I bowled 14 overs straight off and we got the Aussies out.

RD: Now he’s out through injury, how much do you miss England’s captain Michael Vaughan?

Flintoff: He’s fantastic. He’s helped us by removing the fear of failure. He’s wanted us to express ourselves and enjoy ourselves. Since he’s taken over you can see the lads are having fun playing cricket. Of course winning helps, but he’s instilled that in us.

I appreciate that. He’s allowed me to play the way I want. Every now and then it’s going to go wrong – I’ll do something that everybody thinks is daft and hold my hand up – but I get caught on the boundary far less than I used to.

RD: Music seems to obsess modern England cricketers.

Flintoff: I always listen to [BBC] Radio 2 in my car, though at home with Holly and Corey it’s Nickelodeon or DVDs. In cricket, it’s spontaneous. I listened to Elton John’s “Rocket Man” during the last Ashes and as the summer went on, it reminded me of winning at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge. When we got to The Oval, everyone was playing it and reviving great memories.

On the last day of the Test in Bombay last winter, I spoke to the team at lunch. When there was nothing more to say, we sat down and listened to an iPod. It was playing “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash – and everyone started clapping and shouting. It was amazing and we walked out with a real spring in our step. I was bowling the first over and I picked the ball up and the second ball got a wicket and the third ball got another. It kicked off from there and we won.

RD: What do you think you’ll be doing in 20 years’ time?

Flintoff: I’ve no idea. At 28, maybe I should start thinking about what I should do next, but since I’ve been a kid all I’ve wanted to do is play cricket. At this stage I still think it’s going to go on forever. I’ve not grown out of that.

Web Extra: Ready, Freddie?

“Only a few people know what I’m really like,” says England’s captain and the world’s best all-rounder

From Reader's Digest Magazine - December 2006

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