Why Andrew Flintoff has been a revelation as a coach... and the one thing he must change if he is to get a shot at England, writes AADAM PATEL
- Andrew Flintoff is head coach of Northern Superchargers in this year's Hundred
As the majority of the 12,857-strong crowd filtered out of Headingley after a one-sided encounter between Northern Superchargers and Trent Rockets on Friday night, a handful of fans remained and gathered by the dugout.
It was only last summer when Andrew Flintoff was wearing a hat and scarf in public to hide his severe facial injuries after that horrific Top Gear accident but here the 46-year-old was in full flow, signing dozens of autographs and taking pictures with those that remained.
‘You’re still my hero, Fred,’ came the shout from a middle-aged man to which Flintoff laughed and responded with a thumbs up.
As he neared the end of the queue of children lining up - so many of whom would have been unaware of what Flintoff did for cricket in England in his prime - his family had made their way down from the hospitality seats to the bottom.
This would have been an emotional moment for them too, 19 months on from the crash that nearly took Flintoff’s life at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.
Andrew Flintoff took charge of his first game as Northern Superchargers coach on Friday night
It capped an inspirational transformation to coaching for Flintoff, 19 months on from a horror crash he was involved in while filming Top Gear which nearly took the England legend's life
Unfortunately for Flintoff, the Superchargers suffered defeat to Trent Rockets by 47 runs
The Superchargers had lost but Flintoff had completed his transition to management, with his first game as head coach complete after a period helping out with England’s white-ball team - the same team he is rumoured to take over in the coming weeks.
Flintoff picked up his four-year-old son Preston (named after his hometown), took the cardboard Superchargers helmet off Preston’s face and put it over his own as his wife, Rachael and his three other children, Holly, Rocky and Corey watched on and giggled. It was all smiles. Two days later, 16-year-old Rocky became Lancashire’s youngest ever first-team cricketer.
The start to Flintoff’s managerial career was an eye-opener - a 47-run hammering in a 100-ball game. In mitigation, his was a side in crisis with players dragged in on the day of the game from around the country. Such was the scene that at breakfast on Friday morning at the Marriott Hotel in Leeds City Centre, one player admitted he didn’t know who some of the people in kit were while their first pick and highest paid player, Nicholas Pooran, arrived on an overnight flight from America and informed the stand-in captain Michael Short that his luggage was still in transit. Thankfully, Phil Salt saved the day with a few bats that shared the same sponsor and specifications for Pooran and they were transported via Uber from across the Pennines to Leeds. For Salt, 27, who has cemented his spot in the England T20 side over the past year, that time with Flintoff in the England camp has been nothing short of joy.
‘More than anything else, he just cares,’ Salt tells Mail Sport. ‘He’s been there and done it all himself and understands the challenges we face. Of course, he knows the technical stuff but he’s helped me so much with my mindset in terms of the clarity of what I need to do and what the team needs from me,’ adds Salt.
At the recent T20 World Cup, Mark Wood described how Flintoff had a ‘real aura’ and across the England camp, similar sentiments are shared for a player who many grew up idolising after the 2005 Ashes.
Flintoff has worked with England's white-ball team in recent times and gained rave reviews
Reports have circulated that he is set to replace Matthew Mott (left) as England's head coach
‘One of the greatest strengths of Freddie is that when he speaks, people listen and that’s not something you can force,’ says Liam Livingstone. ‘There’s an aura about him whenever he opens his mouth. Everytime you look at him, you see the hero that he was when you were growing up so when it comes to coaching, he’s got a headstart on a lot of people because of the respect others have for him,’ Livingstone adds.
When England got off to a shaky start during that tournament with a washout against Scotland and defeat to Australia, it was Flintoff who played a key part in keeping the spirits high.
‘Especially when we had a difficult first few games, he was keen on reminding the boys of how good we are and that was huge coming from someone like him,’ Chris Jordan tells Mail Sport. ‘In those moments, even experienced players begin to doubt themselves but he was constantly giving that positive energy,’ Jordan adds.
‘He’s one of them ultra-positive people that gets the best out of players and he’s the type of guy that you want to go out and play for,’ says Livingstone.
For Jordan, 35, that experience under Flintoff was ‘unbelievable’. ‘Watching him from afar as a kid to then sharing a dressing room with him and seeing how down to earth and real he is as a person, it landed and went down really well with all the boys,’ he says. ‘To have someone of that calibre with you can only be a positive.’
Flintoff presented Adil Rashid with his 100th T20I cap in December in Barbados telling him that he ‘epitomised everything that England cricket is about.’
Their relationship stretches back to the latter stages of Flintoff’s playing career and Rashid is teaming up with him at the Superchargers over the next few weeks.
‘People listen and take note when he speaks,’ says Rashid. ‘The way he delivers his messages is inspirational and very different to others. He’s always passing on the knowledge he has and it’s not just that. I’ve known him for ages and even as head coach, he won’t change as a person. He’s still that approachable guy who mingles with everyone and makes the effort to make conversation with everyone,' adds Rashid. You only have to watch Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams to recognise those inspirational qualities.
In Leeds, with both the Superchargers men’s and women’s teams sharing the same hotel, insiders admit that some have been starstruck by Flintoff’s presence even though he is ‘as down to earth as it gets.’ ‘Everyone’s been queuing up to meet him,’ joked Linsey Smith, who plays for the women’s team.
Adil Rashid was one of several England stars to praise Flintoff when speaking with Mail Sport
Northern Superchargers captain Matthew Short (in purple) similarly hailed Flintoff's attitude
Despite living just over an hour away in Hale, near Manchester, Flintoff has opted to stay with the team for the duration of the competition, with Short saying pre-tournament that Flintoff was ‘more excited than the players’ and referring to him as a ‘modern-day coach’ with a ‘lot of fun and a lot of energy.’
The similarities to Bazball are clear with an emphasis on having a good time, entertaining fans and creating a culture of no fear.
With the Superchargers spending their first ten days in Leeds, he has made an effort to get to know all of the background personnel across both teams - so much so that one support staff member recalls how Flintoff introduced himself as ‘Freddie’ in the lift, even though he knew who he was.
On the eve of The Hundred, he took the staff out to a nearby Thai restaurant and covered the bill while plenty of social nights have been planned, with a squad gathering at Flight Club in Leeds already full of tales.
Though for all those good vibes, Flintoff does not need telling about the importance of results.
The Superchargers gig will come with minimal scrutiny but he will be hurting at just how convincingly his side were beaten on Friday – a 57-run eighth-wicket partnership helped them avoid the biggest defeat in the short history of The Hundred.
Flintoff only had to look a few yards to the left to see the experienced Andy Flower in the opposition dugout, the coach when he played his last England game in 2009.
Fifteen years on, Flower is one of the most in-demand franchise coaches in the world and renowned for his attention to detail.
Flintoff's opening game came with plenty of challenges, such as marquee signing Nicolas Pooran flying in overnight before informing the team that his luggage was still in transit
Flintoff's aura has been praised and his ability to inspire star names has never been in doubt
Flintoff is not anti-data but he is certainly not as open to data as others. In an era of team WhatsApp groups and where analysts regularly share information via the messaging channel, the fact that Flintoff has the disappearing messages feature (which sees messages deleted after 24 hours) is interesting, to say the least.
‘He refers to the data when he really needs to but his cricket knowledge is that good that he can read the game without needing numbers to point it out all the time,’ says another England international. ‘I hate comparing but you know that he knows what he’s talking about in a way that a lot of coaches in cricket don’t. Some just waffle for the sake of it.’
Yet for all the Flintoff love in, his fast-track appointment at the Superchargers hasn’t come without questions. Despite his persona, there was no official interview process and he has no coaching qualifications. Rob Key is a close friend and Richard Thompson, the chairman of the ECB, is his long-time agent in his other job as chair of talent management company M&C Saatchi Merlin. As of the weekend, a pre-tournament interview with Kate Cross for The Hundred’s digital channels was still awaiting sign-off from Flintoff’s team.
Independent media outlets have been told he won’t be doing any interviews throughout The Hundred and he didn’t speak to Sky at any point during the first game.
For a struggling competition that is doing whatever it can to get coverage, Flintoff is of course a positive story and worth celebrating though currently, the organisers live in the hope that it can get to a point where the trust develops.
If he does end up as England’s white-ball coach - then with that responsibility - surely that must change to a degree. But it’s clear that Flintoff is adored and respected by those in the game.
All of the England internationals that Mail Sport reached out to speak about Flintoff responded and were keen to wax lyrical about him.
Rob Key has been holding meetings with various members associated with the white-ball teams to review the setup and those feelings will no doubt have been shared.
Yet for all the Flintoff love in, his fast-track appointment hasn’t come without questions
If he replaces Mott as white-ball coach it would be a fitting appointment for the current regime
If Flintoff does end up replacing Matthew Mott as Mail Sport reported on Friday, he won’t be short of admirers and it would be one of the feelgood stories of the year, even though it will understandably prop up the question of a ‘jobs for the boys’ environment.
Yet there is little question over the style he will implement. In the aftermath of the Superchargers defeat on Friday, Short said: ‘He wants to bring a fun environment. If guys are having fun and feel like they’re enjoying themselves, that’s when we play our best cricket. He just wants us to be fearless and take the game on.’
It’s worth going back to Brendon McCullum’s first press conference as England Test coach in May 2022 to see the similarities. ‘I certainly don’t coach technically,’ said McCullum at the time. ‘For me it’s more about tactics and man-management, providing the right environment to make the guys the best versions of themselves.’
With a similar approach, Flintoff would be a fitting appointment for the current regime - one that will undoubtedly attract eyeballs and an array of questions yet be filled with immense excitement.
