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Yesterday, Ganguly (@Dadahere) was overactive on twitter. After a few inane tweets aimed at Dada, I checked out his twitter profile.
Dada’s profile said ‘Sourav Ganguly retired Indian Cricketer.’ Now I’ve known that Sourav’s been long retired, but seeing the word retired under his name, did make me feel a warped sense of nostalgic loss.
And now Flintoff’s gone and pulled off a Dada, and some more; he’s retired from all forms of cricket. It’s not as if we didn’t know that Freddie wasn’t going to play any more cricket, it was just left unsaid in print.
Deal with @Dadahere and Freddie there, they’re way beyond their average numbers. We can fight them with numbers, but it’s no good. If they didn’t make any runs, or take any wickets it didn’t matter – what mattered was the hope we put in these guys, we urged them, and secretly always knew they could do so much more.
Every bad run was just that. Comebacks were invented for them. Cricket was created to serve them. So when Freddie retires from all forms, you naturally feel bad.
There are those that will laugh at his injury ridden career. I’ve done that, but not today. Today I salute the great big English boy who made bowling through the pain-barrier a fucking art form. All that was missing was a bleeding big toe through the front shoe tear.
The English Dada's Retirement.
Freddie the Freelancer
Everyone is talking about whether Freddie has opened Pandora's box, by refusing the ECB contract.
Whether others will follow suit and how cricketing apocalypse is around the corner.
But, one thing I wanna know is, who in the right frame of mind, would pay for a big bag of loose nuts, bolts and broken bones? The cost of these loose nuts could be 1.5 million or more,in dollars not rupees.
Worth a gamble?
I wouldn't want him, for sure. Even for free.
Good stuff on Freddie and Broad.
"Good morning all and welcome to our coverage of the second ODI. The news is that Stuart Broad's out of the match with a neck strain, so it's good to see he's taking his role as Andrew Flintoff's replacement seriously."
Cricinfo does outdo itself sometimes.
You know, it could have been a much better Ashes if...
If Flintoff was 10% fit
If Brett Lee was 10% worthy
If Symonds was 10% sober
If Ramprakash made a guest appearance
If Bell made a disappearance
If KP wasn’t Achilles
If Ricky wasn’t Ponting
If Langer and his dossier opened the innings
If Hayden and his kitchen sink opened too
If Darren Gough opened the bowling
If Trott was always in the middle
If India played the winners at the Oval
If I was there
Andrew Flintoff: An occasional sense of occasion
The test has just started for Freddie. He has connected to the sense of a moment. The moment was manufactured by Stuart Broad, the Aussies and whoever else could pitch in.
But we are on the threshold of a London Moment. It will be bigger than Lord’s, it will be bigger than the Oval. It will be the shape of Freddie’s fancy.
What picture will he paint? Will he be airbrushed?
Here’s what I expect, Freddie to arrive at the crease, and regardless of whether he scores or doesn’t, the crowds will be at his command. That will be a moment.
If he plunders with the bat, then it will be a savage, almost apocalyptic moment – and Noah will fetch one of Andrew Flintoff for his ark.
But it will be ball in hand that Freddie will emerge Godlike*, a larger manifestation for all mortals to see, believe in, myth will be no myth no more.
As Krishna revealed the universe within to Arjun.
Freddie will seize the moment, the day, the night, and all that lies within its grasp, and beyond it.
The ball will cease to be a ball.
It will be, a moment hurled at the Australians.
And not even the Aussies can defy destiny.
It is written here, but only Freddie knows how it will pan out.
*Ricky Ponting run out Andrew Flintoff
Written on 22nd August, 2009. You can read the entire piece at Naked Cricket
Ashes: Why England batted on winning the toss.
Exclusive BCC! Interview with Flintoff - see who he thanks for Lord's
BCC!: Nobody expected you to bowl so many overs unchanged – how did you do it Freddie?
Freddie: MumbleMumbleMumbleMumble5MumbleLord’sMumbleMumble…MumbleMumbleMumbleMumble
BCC!: What did Strauss and Flower say to you before start of play?
Freddie: UmmMumble
BCC!: You think the body will hold till the end of the Ashes
Freddie: GottaMumbleMumbleBigMumbleEffort
BCC!: Anyone you’d like to thank for your efforts
Freddie: MumbleBumble…
(look out for more of the same soon)
ashes: england should send flintoff one down...
england should send flintoff at one down with the license to go for kill...
it will serve them two purpose with one stroke...
while ball being relatively hard he can flex his muscle without doing all the running...and even if he gets out...will give him more time to recuperate that ailing knee...to be used properly as bowler...
Bored Reaction: Andrew Flintoff Retirement Booze up .
Two consecutive smses from Bored Members informed me about Freddie's retirement. It was as if he had retired twice in two seconds. If world reaction is to believed, you’d think Ian Botham just retired mid-way through Beefy’s Ashes.
When I read the first sms, I laughed. Not a loud, hysterical laugh, but the sort of snigger meant for Shoaib Akhtar’s comebacks. In a way I was glad, somebody else will get a break now.
Btw what was your reaction, did you react at all? Freddies reaction, "I can't believe me ears - Cheers all, drinks on the house!"
KhufiaBaaz: IPL responsible for Andrew Flintoff’s test retirement.
Not the BBC or the Times will tell you the real reason why Freddie Flintoff retired – it was to concentrate on his IPL career with the Chennai Super Kings. After a ‘rubbish’ performance with CSK this season, where Freddie bowled the most expensive spell, he was rightly devastated – it was either tests or IPL. Finally, IPL won! A huge relief for his millions of fans in the subcontinent. A small group of cricket fans in the UK mourned test cricket’s loss, but in the long run, Freddie knows, the IPL will take care of him, much better than anyone else.
Flintoff goes the Afridi way: retires from test cricket.
"My body has told me it's time to stop. Since 2005 I've had two years when I've done nothing but rehab from one injury or another."
Last week at Bored: “Andrew Flintoff: The Shahid Afridi of England”. Now see what he’s gone and done today - Retired from test cricket. He could have retired from many other pursuits, such as drinking, IPL, one-dayers, but the whites got shabbier.
Had he retired a few years back, Flintoff could have made something of his other careers – now, as was evident in the IPL, he’s a big lad with even bigger doubts.
But did he bowl a heavy, almost Stonehenge sized ball – though it seemed obvious in Cardiff, he was doing so under huge duress. He was a slave bowler, being whipped to bowl harder and faster, no longer master of his own limbs.
I expected him to break down on the field while England bowled him into the ground. Instead, he will walk away after an Ashes' summer. Or will he be on the stretcher to surgery once more?
Either way, the comparisons between him and Afridi are obvious. Both got away with murder. Both players have unfilled test careers. Both were unreasonably loved by their nations, because of which their selections depended more on their whims than their performance, fitness or criteria that worked for other players.
They were the star players. But when you look back, so fleeting were their test careers, they were more like the shooting stars.
A Super Over after a super Ashes test match.
Take that Twenty20 and shove it up your abridged a*se. That last hour, that last hour, was that something, or was that something. If you weren’t there, suck the highlights out of space or Sky. Watch them, and then we shall talk.
As England’s latest darlings drew closer to a draw, and the ‘remaining overs’ meter kept ticking – 11, 10, 9, 8 – also bear in mind, two overs for change-over in case England wangle a lead. And then this dirty T20ish thought crossed my mind – we could be in for a Super Over. With Australia set a target of a modest 16 of 6 balls. Who would bowl? What fields? Tasty or what? Who would you have bowled, Flintoff, right? Or Jimmy Boy Anderson, Champion of Cardiff? Or still better, do a John Buchanan, and get Monty on?
And who would Ponting send in to bat? The regular openers or Haddin and Johnson?
Andrew Flintoff: The Shahid Afridi of England.
After this, this happened
Images courtesy cricinfo and PCB
Let’s talk about the Ashes, baby!
Is it taboo to talk about the Ashes, it doesn’t involve India, BCCI or the IPL. It’s already the second day, and for all you know, it will rain and then all that effort will be for what – so why talk about the Ashes? Looks like it won’t rain, Wimbledon was largely rain free, and an Englishman even made it to the semis – so it’s gonna be England’s almost there series. Don’t you get a sense, I do. That they will try, for an innings here, and an innings there, but never two innings together – this series will be their Adelaide, the so near yet so faaaar.
I didn’t like the sight of Flintoff smiling when he and Prior had the Aussies by the balls – almost got a sense, like you do when Sachin starts smiling, here comes trouble. And that was the last smile. So how soft is Flintoff, or for that matter the rest of them? Prior looked all at sea after Flintoff’s wicket, and it was a huge relief when he got out.
And then the tail came and lashed out, and before you know it we’re on a fast car, 435 will do, thank you. It might, and it may not.
But look at the Englishman, and you get a sense they want to all compete. Which is great, but they’re somewhat wary of going the full distance. England needs to talk at the Aussies, rile them – do an India with them, tell them who’s boss, get to Ponting, he is soft too. Wake up, England, we’re watching in India. And so is South Hall. Make the Kangaroo hop. Draw him out, that’s what you picked two spinners for – the team selection’s inspired, and England looks like a team; Australia, do you even want to look at them? Not Ponting’s Australia, they are a random bunch of mercenaries – and that’s where their tactics could be the key. Unlike the debacle in India, this lot will have more guys ready to go bonkers. Or at least they should. If Australia get within even 50 of England by lunch tomorrow, and England bats soon after, will they get Adelaide again?
Place Your Bets On Yuvraj Hitting Less Than One 6 Today
1) Golden Duck - 1:1.4
2) Duck - 1:1.07
3) One 6 - 1:5
4) Two Sixes - 1:9
5) More Than Two Sixes - 1:1.02
Go figure. Broad did. Pity no Freddy this time to wind him up though.
All bets must be placed in "honour" currency and winnings can be redeemed with special "honour" coupons. Really. If you would like to donate 10% of your winnings to England's Ashes Charity Bowling, you're a loon and shouldn't be betting in the first place.
Who'll support Bopara, Shah, Rashid, Panesar?
With the all important England v Pakistan match slated for this evening, I think this is the right time to express my views on a very contentious issue.
I agree with Andrew Flintoff and Nasser Hussain when they say that Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi immigrants to England should ideally support England as their FIRST team and not their country of origin.
In my view atleast second/third generation Brits of Indian origin: those who hold a British passport, are born in England, educated there, speak and behave like the English, have a parallel culture of their own (be it language, values, music, lifestyle, food, dressing sense, turbans) which is nothing like ours here in India, need to do some introspection before they decide to support India in an India-England game. (Britain's fav dish Chicken Tikka Masala, largely unknown in India, is a manifestation of this parallel culture)
While supporting England in an India-England game, the second generation British Desi does not take the following into consideration:
1. After all players like Bopara, Rashid, Shah and Panesar are also a part of the British Asian community. In fact, they are the true representatives of the community. They have beaten the odds to earn a place in the English team. Who'll support them?
2. The British Desi's support for India in an India-England game alienates him from mainstream British society and leads to further xenophobia among the Brits. This is bad for the Brit Desis themselves (in the long run) as well as for people like us who travel to England once in a while.
So according to me the Brit Desis have a moral duty to support England in Eng vs Ind/Pak games but can support their country of origin whenever Ind/Pak is playing a third team.
Moral of the story: Country of origin needs to be respected and loved but loyalty should be reserved for country of birth and residence. After all, I'd be disgusted if I find a third generation Englishman living in India, supporting England in an India-England match.
Disclaimer: My comments are not aimed at NRIs (Non Resident Indians) or Indian passport holders working abroad but are instead for PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin) who are born and bred in a foreign land and hold a foreign passport.
The above-mentioned issue grabbed the attention of the author while he was pursuing his Masters in Law in England (University of Warwick, Warwickshire: Shakespeare's County).
Ankit's Moment of IPL Match 5
Scene: last over of the Chennai Innings. Dale Steyn is bowling. Freddy Flintoff is at the crease.
Steyn runs in quick and mean, Flintoff shuffles and moves towards the off side. Steyn follows him, misses the bat by about 3 inches, and as it is technically so, Brian Jerling stretches his arms.
Steyn gives it to him in the local language...
That is not it..
3 balls later, Steyn yorks Albie Morkel and mutters to the umpire: "now that wasn't too wide, was it?"
Fast Bowler going full senti...
Love it...
