Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff, the England star, who retired from International cricket in September 2010 has certain hang-ups about that the fact that England are not yet sure how to go about their World Cup squad.
The 33-year old feels that although the team has been announced yet England has not yet been able to decide who shall open the innings along with Andrew Strauss. Although the English selection panel has backed Matt Prior to open the innings yet Flintoff feels that it would have been better if Ian Bell opened the innings, as he is the man in supreme form for England.
He also puts in that out of the four World Cups he has played in, thrice the team has been unsure about the playing fifteen just weeks before the World Cup.
Flintoff’s comments came before the fourth ODI between England and Australia and thus the former all-rounder gave a piece of advice for the English team for the remaining ODI’s as well.
Commenting on England’s performance so far in the series, Flintoff said that the Ashes win had certainly had an effect on the team. The euphoria of winning the series would have certainly taken the focus off the ODI series. He further put in that he was sure that the English team was putting in its best and there was no reason that they could not win the series from that position onwards. He wants the English team to continue their hard work and take a break if the need be.
His comments surely seem to have had an effect on the team as they played pretty well in the fourth ODI to win the match eventually.
England’s performance was spearheaded by Jonnathan Trott who scored a smooth 102. His performance came after a well made 84 from the previous game. His 113 run partnership with Matt Prior (67) helped England reach an impressive 299 for the loss of eight wickets.
Hussey whose bowling was the most impressive from the Australian side bagged four wickets and gave away 20 runs in four overs. The Aussie off-spinner certainly seems to have found the right form at the right time, especially just before the World Cup.
Australia too gave a pretty upright fight back with Shane Watson continuing his free flow batting, thus scoring a 72 ball 64. His innings was followed by White (44) who tried to anchor the innings. Eventually Smith hammered a 47 ball 46 to keep Australia’s hopes alive, with some assistance from Brett Lee who scored a brisk 39 off 32 balls. Yet Australia failed to achieve the required target by 22 runs.
Perhaps Flintoff’s opinion on England fighting back in the series might just have helped the English team boost their morale. If one goes by Flintoff’s verdict, the English team might rise to the occasion, in a super tournament like the World Cup and play as well as they did in the T20 World Cup in 2010.
One only hopes that England can win the next two matches and thus keep the series alive till the last match.
Tags: Andrew Flintoff, Cricket, England, English Team, Jonnathan Trott, Matt Prior, ODI Cricket, World Cup
