Suppose if he feels that he cannot give 100% performances with his injuries for England over 5 days then fair enough but I guess we really need to keep Freddie for the One dayers!
But this won't be the last big player to announce retirement from test cricket so they're fit for the much more lucrative 20/20 format and understandably so. 5 days work for £3k or £1million for a month in India
A shame the lad isn't up to the 5 day game any more HOWEVER I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that recently we've had a far better test record without him in the side than with so maybe, in the longer term, best for all concerned.
But this won't be the last big player to announce retirement from test cricket so they're fit for the much more lucrative 20/20 format and understandably so. 5 days work for £3k or £1million for a month in India
Except in Flintoff's case I don't think he's fit for anything other than the knackers' yard, i don't think it'll be long until he retires from all forms of cricket
[cite]Posted By: BlackForestReds[/cite]Sad, but someone who weighs as much as Flintoff is likely to have more injury problems than most.
Cricketing wise if Broad keeps up his improvement (first Test apart) then we may not actually miss him a great deal.
Although Broad has shown some ability he has a long way to go before he comes close to being as important as Freddie was to us. The balance he gives to the line up batting at 6 or 7 is invaluable. If Broad or any other bowler has a shocker with the ball like he did in the first test when it is only a four man attack it puts the whole team under pressure
But this won't be the last big player to announce retirement from test cricket so they're fit for the much more lucrative 20/20 format and understandably so. 5 days work for £3k or £1million for a month in India
Very harsh. Flintoff would love to carry on playing Test cricket but his body just won't stand the rigours of bowling 40-50 overs per Test match, its as simple as that.
He is already signed to the IPL and will carry on with an ECB central contract for One-day cricket so the only extra loot he might get is if he signs to play in the Aussie or South African 20/20 competitions, neither of which will pay him anything like the 1.2 million quid that he gets from the IPL.
He is a big fellow, that's for sure, but he is not fat by any means, although his extra size probably puts a strain on knees/ankles that lighter blokes don't have to put up with.
Interesting that the lean Ambrose/Walsh/McGrath had comparatively few injury problems whereas the bulkier Flintoff and the likes of Hughes and Beefy had numerous injuries....
He is a big fellow, that's for sure, but he is not fat by any means, although his extra size probably puts a strain on knees/ankles that lighter blokes don't have to put up with.
...........
There's no "probability" about it, he weighs in at around 18/19 stone and that kind of weight thudding down on shins, knees and ankles especially on rolled, baked hard tracks is going to cause problems.
McGrath had plenty of injury problems...he just managed to always get fit for Ashes Tests...
True, but I don't think that Freddie is over-weight at the moment, he is just a very big man so there is not much he could have done to prevent these injuries apart from cut well back on his bowling pace.
The interesting thing is that some bigger players do play without injury, the best example being Kallis who has played for much of the last decade without serious injury whilst playing all forms of the game for SA. To be fair though, he only bowls around 20 overs per Test for them compared to the 30+ that Freddie bowls in every match.
McGrath had some injury problems, mainly with his ankle back in 2004, but had a pretty good fitness record overall and played the small matter of 124 Test matches over a 14 year Test match career, so he did not miss many matches in his career.
His only two long absences from the game were for the ankle in 2004 and after the Ashes in 2005 when he cared for his wife who had cancer.
Comments
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/8151402.stm
But this won't be the last big player to announce retirement from test cricket so they're fit for the much more lucrative 20/20 format and understandably so. 5 days work for £3k or £1million for a month in India
Unlikely to finish this series also IMO.
Cricketing wise if Broad keeps up his improvement (first Test apart) then we may not actually miss him a great deal.
Although Broad has shown some ability he has a long way to go before he comes close to being as important as Freddie was to us. The balance he gives to the line up batting at 6 or 7 is invaluable. If Broad or any other bowler has a shocker with the ball like he did in the first test when it is only a four man attack it puts the whole team under pressure
Very harsh. Flintoff would love to carry on playing Test cricket but his body just won't stand the rigours of bowling 40-50 overs per Test match, its as simple as that.
He is already signed to the IPL and will carry on with an ECB central contract for One-day cricket so the only extra loot he might get is if he signs to play in the Aussie or South African 20/20 competitions, neither of which will pay him anything like the 1.2 million quid that he gets from the IPL.
He is a big fellow, that's for sure, but he is not fat by any means, although his extra size probably puts a strain on knees/ankles that lighter blokes don't have to put up with.
Interesting that the lean Ambrose/Walsh/McGrath had comparatively few injury problems whereas the bulkier Flintoff and the likes of Hughes and Beefy had numerous injuries....
...........
There's no "probability" about it, he weighs in at around 18/19 stone and that kind of weight thudding down on shins, knees and ankles especially on rolled, baked hard tracks is going to cause problems.
McGrath had plenty of injury problems...he just managed to always get fit for Ashes Tests...
The interesting thing is that some bigger players do play without injury, the best example being Kallis who has played for much of the last decade without serious injury whilst playing all forms of the game for SA. To be fair though, he only bowls around 20 overs per Test for them compared to the 30+ that Freddie bowls in every match.
McGrath had some injury problems, mainly with his ankle back in 2004, but had a pretty good fitness record overall and played the small matter of 124 Test matches over a 14 year Test match career, so he did not miss many matches in his career.
His only two long absences from the game were for the ankle in 2004 and after the Ashes in 2005 when he cared for his wife who had cancer.