Flintoff the best sport

[308gt4]

Freddie may have just copped a hiding but the man is the best sport I have seen for a long time.

He has the decency and heart to realise when people are down such as when he consoled Brett Lee last year when Lee almost won the match that would have kept the Ashes with us Aussies.

The English team behaved in a manner that is very rare to see in an Aussie team, they formed a guard of honour for Langer as he came out to bat for the last time in his career

I would gladly have Flintoff in the Aussie team as he has the heart of a lion but was let down by inferior players, not inferior in ability but inferior in attitude

5-0, so what!!

no team in the world was going to beat the Aussie team with the focus and determination they had but England played well in patches and would have beaten any other team in the world once they sorted out the right players

Freddie Flintoff, TOP MAN, a true sportsman

[JoolzB]

Yeah agree and his post match interview yesterday I thought was excellent. The main difference was the poor batting by our tail enders I thought and not having Monty in frm the start.

[mrmaggit]

Play up, and play the game.

Australia were just too good, we were not good enough.

Here's to the next Test Series.

[308gt4]

Freddie's was from the heart, Ponting's was from the machine .... Ponting is only captain because he can string more than two words together from the autocue

[sa_20v]

308gt4 said:

Freddie Flintoff, TOP MAN, a true sportsman

Yup, but shouldn't that be a true English sportsman? Gracious in defeat (which Englishmen are used to), drunk as a skunk with victory?

[JoolzB]

308gt4 said:

Freddie's was from the heart, Ponting's was from the machine .... Ponting is only captain because he can string more than two words together from the autocue

Pontin seems like an ok bloke to me but I'm not a big cricket fan, 20-20 and the ashes are my limits.

Mcgrath and Warne were excellent and will be missing from the next ashes, just need Gilcrest to retire now and we stand a better chance next time.

[308gt4]

sa_20v said:

Yup, but shouldn't that be a true English sportsman?

that kind of sportsmanship transcends all countries, he was the only one I was worried about in the series, Pietersen is just another SA mercenary that we take care of all the time but Flintoff would be playing his heart out for his country, something we Aussies can appreciate and admire

[carrera2]

I'm just glad we didn't knight the whole team in our moment of victory. That would have been a massive embarrassment.

[sjc]

Flintoff might be a "sport" but his captaincy was poor ( he was the wrong choice)and he was also not fit.We lost Jones (the biggest loss), Trescothick and Vaughn, which was a fair part of the side.The preperation was appalling, the attitude even worse, negative and with no backbone. What message is it showing the opposition when you leave out your best spinner and wicketkeeper in the hope of 20 extra runs? Some of the shots played by early order batsman were frankly a disgrace, and the bowling on the first morning set the tone for the whole series, for sake hitting 2nd slip and coming off and admitting "we were nervous"!
The Ashes as far as I am concerned were lost as soon as Flintoff,Pieterson and the rest spent 3 days pissed after winning them.You won't see the Ozzies doing that.

Edited by sjc on Friday 5th January 22:24

[RichUK]

308gt4 said:

they formed a guard of honour for Langer as he came out to bat for the last time in his career

Various England teams have done this over the years, I particularly remember when they did it for Amrose & Walsh when they retired from Test cricket a good few years ago.

[308gt4]

sjc said:

Flintoff might be a "sport" but his captaincy was poor .

you're being harsh on him here, no-one was going to look good with the attitude and preparation Australia went through prior to the Ashes.

Gilchrist is the only Aussie I would say matched Flintoff for sportsmanship and common decency

[sjc]

308gt4 said:

sjc said:

Flintoff might be a "sport" but his captaincy was poor .

you're being harsh on him here, no-one was going to look good with the attitude and preparation Australia went through prior to the Ashes.

Gilchrist is the only Aussie I would say matched Flintoff for sportsmanship and common decency

As I said Flintoff was a " sport". But our attitude after winning the Ashes was all the incentive the Aussies needed, and to be fair to them I thought they took the defeat last time pretty well.Within minutes they were in the English changing room sharing a beer which is exactly how it shoud be.
If we're not careful though Flintoff is going to become a Beckham with everyone putting a "can do no wrong halo" on him.

[sparkythecat]

308gt4 said:

..... no-one was going to look good with the attitude and preparation Australia went through prior to the Ashes.

So why can't our sportsmen show the same level of application.
They're highly paid professionals FFS. Is it a lack of skill, or just a lack of motivation that's causing the problem?

[308gt4]

sparkythecat said:

So why can't our sportsmen show the same level of application.
They're highly paid professionals FFS. Is it a lack of skill, or just a lack of motivation that's causing the problem?

I believe at the elite level it is a mental game, if you believe you are the best then you will achieve, look at the self belief all the F1 drivers have and then look at how Warne plays with the minds of the opposition and the sledging the teams do to get into the minds of the players.

There is very little between the abilities of the players but the mental game is a big part of their success or failure

[Lois]

Wonder if he has to give back the key to the city now

[hsvgtscoupe]

308gt4 said:

everything he said already

Agree with it all, from an Aussie perspective Freddy is a genuine sportsman and is a great allrounder & heart on his sleeve frontman - dunno if he's got the ability to seperate from the pack enough to be a true captain though so prob best he sticks with what he's best at - great team guy, great player.
plus you forgot to mention:
Dunc F

Warney

McGrath

Langer

Punter

Symo

Hussey

Bretta

Clarky x 2

Matty "ROCK" Hayden

and Gilly u absolute phuckin legend

[unrepentant]

308gt4 said:

sparkythecat said:

So why can't our sportsmen show the same level of application.
They're highly paid professionals FFS. Is it a lack of skill, or just a lack of motivation that's causing the problem?

I believe at the elite level it is a mental game, if you believe you are the best then you will achieve, look at the self belief all the F1 drivers have and then look at how Warne plays with the minds of the opposition and the sledging the teams do to get into the minds of the players.

There is very little between the abilities of the players but the mental game is a big part of their success or failure

The difference is that the Aussies are taught that the baggy green is precious and that you have to earn the right to it and then the right to keep it. Our guys are mollycoddled and made to feel "safe" by the system and the hunger just isn't there. Aussie players would not have thrown away their wickets in the manner of Cooke, Bell and Flintoff in the second innings at Sydney.

I want to see Fletcher and the selectors fired and replaced with a hard nosed manager who will instill discipline and pride and I would go for Stewart Law or Darren Lehman.

[pies]

JoolzB said:

Yeah agree and his post match interview yesterday I thought was excellent. The main difference was the poor batting by our tail enders I thought and not having Monty in frm the start.

Batsmen get run bowlers bowl,dont expect the tail to score runs top top order can't

Our top six scored a combined total of 2031 runs in 57 completed innings
Aussies top six scored 2371 from 37 completed innings

Our bowlers took 57 wickets at an average of over 50
Aussies took 92 at an average of 26


We were badly prepared and lacked the correct attitude,plus we were playing a very good team performing at a high level

[JoolzB]

pies said:

JoolzB said:

Yeah agree and his post match interview yesterday I thought was excellent. The main difference was the poor batting by our tail enders I thought and not having Monty in frm the start.

Batsmen get run bowlers bowl,dont expect the tail to score runs top top order can't

Our top six scored a combined total of 2031 runs in 57 completed innings
Aussies top six scored 2371 from 37 completed innings

Our bowlers took 57 wickets at an average of over 50
Aussies took 92 at an average of 26


We were badly prepared and lacked the correct attitude,plus we were playing a very good team performing at a high level

I'm not so sure I thought the english team showed great spirit at times and were more than up for it. Selecting Giles I thought was a mistake plus a number of key players unavailable didn't help the situation. As soon as England lost the top 5 batsman (not 6)that was the end of it whereas the Aussie tail enders got valuable runs.

I'm really not a cricket expert but can't understand how a bowler can be so shite at batting having played the game for so long.

[sleep envy]

carrera2 said:

I'm just glad we didn't knight the whole team in our moment of victory. That would have been a massive embarrassment.

never a truer word posted

still, I'm off to see my bookie later