Sport

England is not the same without Flintoff

It doesn’t get much better than this: one of my favourite players being declared Man of the Match on my ground in his 300th one-day international.

When I went into the Indian dressing room to congratulate Sourav Ganguly, I told him that had Greg Chappell not got him sacked, this would probably have been his 350th game. And I told him that if Greg sends him a Christmas card, would he please hand it over to me, because I can make a fortune auctioning it off!

Jokes apart, and showing far greater commitment and common sense while batting first, with England having been stupid enough to choose to field, India put on a vastly improved show at Headingley.

The top four batsmen scoring half-centuries always helps, and you could see the determination on the faces of the Indian fielders as they went about their tasks.

Yes, a leopard will not change its spots overnight, and India can’t become a world class fielding side just yet, but each and every international standard cricketer should be able to field decently, and reach an acceptable level on the field.

It may have helped that Sharad Pawar was present to watch proceedings.

It certainly helped that Andrew Flintoff was not. England are just not the same without him, and his absence merely highlights the need for an all-rounder that I keep harping on. Flintoff is the game’s best dual-purpose player right now, and such blokes are priceless.

The sad bit is that Flintoff may have done too much too soon.

When I met him some time ago, I had suggested that he ease his way back into the game at the Twenty20 World Championship, where he would only be allowed to bowl four overs per match.

I cannot agree with his decision to come back through the far tougher route of a 50-over game, without proper build-up or recovery time between games. The trouble is that he’s so good that people want to get the most out of him.

It probably also helped that England had the 4-1 score line dancing in front of their eyes and thought that the way India were playing, all they had to do was turn up and the game was theirs.

If that was indeed the case, they’ve learnt the hard way that you cannot take a strong batting line-up for granted, no matter how ‘senior’ the players.

As I have always said, the way to deal with erratic form in brilliant players like Sachin, Sourav, and Rahul is not to publicly humiliate and embarrass them. The best way is for the chairman of selectors or the coach to take them aside and ask them gently but firmly to re-focus on the game. What they need is a talking to, not sacking.

And finally, Kevin Pietersen’s batting woes, particularly when starting against the spinners, certainly helped. Repeated dismissals at the hands of spinners can only erode his confidence, so he needs to start earlier, in my opinion, when the pacers are operating.

The Oval is a good venue for another big score, but India’s best chance is still to bat first, because the track will be flat and pacy, the outfield lightning fast, and India are still one bowler short.

Gameplan

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