Did Flintoff Just Admit To Cheating?
I’ve long had a deep affection for Andrew Flintoff, who takes turns being a romantic Australia-slayer and an affectionately flawed drunkard. For all his epic feats, he still resonates as a human figure, struggling to break from the pack. He took years to actually pull away and dominate batting line-ups, and since the Ashes, when he finally did, his personality’s complex strands – the fragility of his physical capabilities; his drinking habits; his immeasurable raw talent – have twisted even more. Like I said, it’s fairly compelling stuff.
His free-ranging interview about his recuperation, then, makes for a gripping read, especially when Flintoff admits, I think, to chucking, so as to compensate for that devilish ankle:
“Also in my thinking was the possibility that I just might not get another chance to take part in this kind of tournament again. In the event I was pretty much bowling on one leg, relying on my shoulder and maybe even a bent arm at times and the realisation grew in me that, if this was as good as it was going to get, it wasn’t enough.”
A bent arm? Is it wrong that I feel even more defensive about Flintoff than before?
Don’t think it’s cheating! Think he may just have been referring to upping his pace through his arm action….
Thomas Rooney
June 6, 2008 at 2:05 pm
A lost little girl called Freddie.
Naked Cricket
June 17, 2008 at 3:49 pm
The connotations are a touch dodgy allright…Unquestionably a lot of bowlers over the years have resorted to a spot of pelting now and again when the going gets tough, but being so frank about it whilst still playing the game is a touch unwise…
cdak
June 19, 2008 at 1:50 pm