The word ‘off ’just cannot be associated with’ Freddie’ anymore. At the raw age of 16, David Lloyd’s investigative eyes, the then Lancashire coach, scrutinized Andrew Flintoff. It was only a question of time before this precocious talent unleashed itself on the international scene. A mediocre first-class debut in 1995 against Hampshire where he scored a paltry seven runs and dropped five catches was something he wanted to oblivionize. At 20, he made his test debut for England against South Africa (1998) but failed to justify his talent courtesy his inconsistency and lack of quality performance.

Nicknamed ‘Freddie’ by John Stanworth, ex-captain Lancashire Second XI captain, because his name resembled ‘Fred Flintstone’, this 6’4” strong lad can, on his day, not only tear any bowling attack apart but also single handedly win a match given his bowling prowess. A young Flintoff found form only intermittently and his maiden test century (137) came against New Zealand at Christchurch in 2002. Importantly, he shared a record partnership with Graham Thorpe to save England. Early in his international career, he was termed as someone with enormous talent, yet someone who failed to fire because of his fitness problems and weight problems. Determined to make a comeback, he pocured Steve Hampson's services (former Great Britain rugby league international) to attain quality fitness. He regained his place in the side on the 2001-02 tour of India, yet, the real results started showing only by 2003 and Andrew Flintoff was taking large strides in justifying his comparisons with the legendry Ian Botham, which, just a year ago seemed frivolous and deceiving.

In 2004, ‘Freddie’ had become a household name. He motored along churning out one quality performance after another. He was named the Man of the Series in England’s 4-0 whitewash of the West Indies and was voted Player of the Year by the Professional Cricketers' Association in September 2004. His scintillating form in the shorter version of the game won him the ICC’s One Day Player of the Year Award (2004). In the summer of 2004, his scintillating batting added with striking bowling brought him to worldwide attention and he termed that period as a ‘purple-patch’ of his career.

‘Flintstone’ moved from one milestone to another. It was this man who led England’s resurgent Ashes victory after 18 years. He outclassed everyone with his all-round performance, scoring 402 runs and taking 24 wickets in five Ashes tests and rightfully earning the Man of the Series award. He earned the Man of the Match award in the Edgbaston test as England won by the narrowest of margins – two runs! Moreover, the ultimate display of sportsmanship was to be seen at the end of the match when he consoled Brett Lee, who sat on the pitch in disbelief following a nail-biting defeat for Australia. The English captain, dubbed this test as ‘Fred’s Test’ in his honour. He followed that performance up with a maiden Ashes hundred at Trent Bridge and clinched the series with a marathon five-wicket haul at The Oval. Adam Gilchrist was particularly his ‘bunny’ in the series as he repeatedly got him around bowling around the wicket. In his recognition, he won the inaugural Compton-Miller Medal and was also awarded the Freedom of the City of Preston, Lancashire where he was born. Another riveting performance awaited as Flintoff led an understrength England to thrash India at Mumbai, levelling the series and ending a 21-year drought.

Andrew Flintoff has come of age, he has managed to shelve his propensity to hit the big shots early on and his beautiful rhythm and metronomic accuracy with the ball make him one of the most ‘complete’ cricketers of modern era. In September 2005 an extract from Andrew Flintoff's autobiography, Being Freddie, was published in The Times. In it, he idiosyncratically claimed that he had been shot at while fielding near the boundary in an ODI in New Delhi in 2002. Albeit supercilious we must concede that most adept people must be given leeway of being just that, ‘Being Freddie’

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