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The Great Leader Series No. 10 - Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff was born in December 1977, Preston, Lancashire. Although, now an English cricketer, he rarely played cricket at school. He learnt the game playing with his father and brother and. then joined his local club at Harris Park. Aged thirteen he joined the local club at Lytham St Anne’s. He stayed for three years before signing with Lancashire.
At first he struggled to make the step up to county level, after being beset by nerves, when playing his debut match against Hampshire. He struggled with his fitness and his weight, at one point, weighing, over nineteen stone. This was partially down to his regular imbibing.
At the age of twenty he captained the England under 19 team in their tour to Pakistan 1996/7 and at home against Zimbabwe in 1997. He made his Test match debut for England in 1998. However he was struggling to make the grade at County level due the inconsistency of his play. When he found form his cricket was explosive. David Gower described his performance, in the finals of the NatWest Trophy against Surrey in 2000, as “the most awesome innings we are ever going to see on a cricket field.” But it was in the same year the managers of the England made it clear they were not happy with Flintoff’s fitness and weight. His response was to score 42 in a one day international at Old Trafford against Zimbabwe. When collecting his Man of the Match trophy he is quoted to have said “not bad for a fat lad”!
To his frustration he lost his place in the England team in 2001. His play was inconsistent but showed sheer genius on occasions, but by early 2004 he had become Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
After that Flintoff went from strength to strength. The record books show him  winning awards and breaking records consistently, culminating with him being voted BBC Sports Personality 2005.
He was a big part of the victorious Ashes winning series in 2005. A large flamboyant player, he captured the hearts of millions, many of whom had never been cricket fans before.
But what happened next? Michael Vaughan was injured and it proved to be an injury that was going to take a long time to heal.. Knee surgery meant that Michael Vaughan had to miss the Winter Ashes series in Australia so Freddie captained the team.
What a disaster! The first white-wash since the 1920/21 Ashes series.
So why do I feel that Andrew Flintoff is a great leader?
Andrew has overcome image problems and inconsistent form to be the English Cricket captain. He has given cricket his all. He flew home from India to see his new baby but didn’t miss a match. His determination to hang on to the Ashes didn’t prove enough. Even the Aussies complained they wanted better competition.
So what did he do?
He had a demoralised team and as captain he had to empower them. His hard work inspired them and they went on to win the CB series 2-0. The victory was not Flintoff’s alone. Cricket is a team sport, so each individual played their part but Andrew had the ability to take a broken group of men and inspire them to work as a team and, indeed, win.
Wikipedia pictures under GNU Free Documentation License
Story By: Anne Walker
Date : 28-02-2007
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