It is amazing to think that there has been so much written about Andrew “Freddy” Flintoff and whether he will or won’t play in the final Ashes Test at the Oval.
There is no doubt that the England hierarchy made a decision heading into the Headingley test that whether he wanted to play or not, they did not feel that his knee was up to two test matches so close together.
Against the player’s wishes they decided to rest him so that he would have more in the tank come the Oval if they needed to win the deciding test. They also no doubt went into the Headingley test, at a ground where Australia has the ascendancy, hoping for a draw. It appeared that they went in with that mentality and paid the price, although no one could have predicted the worst cumulative score by numbers 3, 4 and 5 in 132 years of Test cricket.
Freddy will play in what will be his final test match, of that there is no doubt, and looking at the script that his career has written expect the unexpected.
