Fred takes England back to basics
The cricketing media are used to trekking through gloomy west London to the Heathrow Marriott Hotel at least twice a year - either side of Christmas - to sit in an anonymous conference room.
While the rest of his squad have their photos taken for sponsors and wear their wrists out autographing hundreds of cricket bats, the England captain gives his thoughts on the forthcoming tour.
Everyone saves their best questions until closer to the major games so the skipper doesn't usually have much to work with, it's over quickly and we all trek home again.
This year it was a bit different. This year, England won't get the chance to pop home for a Christmas break with an arduous winter ahead that begins in India with the , moves to Australia for and then on to the in the West Indies.
And this year the captain is .
Whatever the relative on-field merits of the three skippers England have had in the last 12 months, Flintoff's way of playing to the crowd is the best.
Michael Vaughan clearly plans what he is going to say beforehand and sometimes you feel you could have written it all up beforehand too.
Andrew Strauss's tendency towards platitudes like, "We've talked the talk, now we've got to walk the walk" are sometimes a little over-the-top.
Flintoff seems to come at it all as if he were suddenly faced by a room full of people asking him about the next fixture for his club side , with disarming honesty and a big grin.
"There's a lot of responsibility goes with the job and that's something I'm aware of," he said of the captaincy.
"The one thing I'm concentrating on is playing cricket. Everything off the pitch is pretty much out of my control.
"The one thing I'm looking forward to is leading the lads and walking out to bat, which is something I've not done for a while."
Others talk about going back to basics, while Flintoff practises it. And suddenly the next six months, arguably the toughest England have ever faced, are put into a manageable context.
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good luck for the english team
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Come on Fred! you can give the aussies a beating.
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If England could qualify from their group (needing to beat probably two of Australia, India and the West Indies) it would be a remarkable performance and give the side great heart. Just like the Champions Trophy win against Australia in 2004 heralded the 2005 Ashes win, a win in that group game will have massive significance again this time given that England have as good a record against Australia in ODIs as anyone since the last Ashes tour.
We've heard the usual Australian clarifications (Australians don't whinge, they just explain why they were hard done by) that they only lost last time because Glenn McGrath was injured for two games (having been incredibly understanding about England losing their entire attack on the 2002/03 Ashes tour). This will be the first test of strength.
Andrew Flintoff and England will need to lift their game hugely to beat Australia, but then, didn't we say the same thing after England struggled to victory in South Africa in 2004?
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i dont think england would qualify, as they lost badly against pakistan and india in subcontinent..
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It's a good day for cricket. Glenn McGrath reminds us that Australia only lost because he was injured and predicts a 5-0 win. Even in the disastrous 2002/03 series we only lost 3-1 and gave Australia a fright in the 4th Test too as Caddick and Harmison tore into them defending a small target.
However, the embarrassment of the mismatch at Ahmedabad has shown how necessary qualifying for the Champions Trophy has been. In the last tournament the USA won the Associates qualifying tournament and went on to show that they were totally out of their depth. Now Zimbabwe are seemingly doing the same.
It's a pity that the ICC could not have let the other 6 ODI Associates play pre-qualifying with the top team to enter this qualifying tournament. Surely sides like Scotland, Holland and Kenya would feel that they are as strong as Zimbabwe and deserve a shot at qualifying too and at playing the weakest of the Full Members to see how much they have progressed.
Zimbabwe seem to be able to complete when other sides are playing in a half-hearted way. When a team like South Africa or West Indies presses the accelerator and takes it more seriously things get embarrassing.
One good thing to come out of the game though is that West Indies have been as ruthless today as Sri Lanka were not yesterday. It's not the same as playing Australia, but England should watch out, this West Indian side could give the favourites a nasty surprise.
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IT IS VERY GOOD BUT PLEASE ADD SOME GAMES
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i like to watch aii the time and i enjoy your program.
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