The thought of Sir Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff in tandem is a potent
cocktail, alcoholic or otherwise. English cricket, the British public and
headline writers have been lucky to have either, let alone both. To have the
two of them in the same place at the same time seems a dangerous thing.
Botham has a tendency to commandeer friendships, particularly with those whom
he can indulge his tireless competitive-ness, and Flintoff seems a natural,
even willing, target. Their friendship, however, is not forced. They have
known each other for almost 20 years, ever since Botham’s son, Liam, came
across Flintoff in age-group cricket in the north of England.
Flintoff caught Ian’s eye then because he was so physically imposing - he
looked as though he should have been in an older group - and Flintoff
instantly knew the identity of the figure on the boundary drinking wine (“to
any kid of my age who liked cricket, Beefy was the hero,” he says).
Nowadays, they play golf together, go fishing and, for all we know, race
pedalos.
There are surely too many common bonds for them not to be drawn together - two
hugely gifted larger-than-life allrounders who have experienced the baubles
and brickbats that celebrity brings. Too much has been expected of both, of
course, and in each case it was the burden of captaincy that tested that
point to destruction.
They have also been portrayed as partners-in-crime, which is always a glue to
solidarity. The morning after Flintoff’s pedalo escapade came to light,
Botham publicly defended him, maintaining that Flintoff’s chief sin had been
getting caught. Good luck to him, was his message.
Later it emerged in Duncan Fletcher’s book that a few weeks before that
incident Flintoff had turned up for practice still intoxicated from the
night before. Fletcher also alleged that Botham had an unhealthy influence
on Flintoff. Some concluded that Flintoff’s drinking partner on the night in
question was Botham. Both men vehemently deny this. “It’s bollocks,” says
Botham.
Bollocks maybe, but it is still an issue that rankles. Asked if he had ever
offered Flintoff advice, Botham says pointedly that in Australia he would
have liked to provide assistance to Steve Harmison but “it was hard to get
through the barriers”. In other words, his advice had been unwelcome during
Fletcher’s regime. Flintoff provided immediate endorsement: “Peter [Moores,
the coach] embraces that problem. He probably more wants to facilitate what
the players need. If I wanted to do some work with Beefy, he wouldn’t stop
it. That wasn’t quite the case a few years ago.”
Flintoff has turned up for our appointment - a shooting day at the West London
Shooting School organised by Volkswagen - hotfoot from The Oval, where he
has just hit a six to win the Test against South Africa. As swashbuckling
goes, this has got Botham written all over it, and Botham is quick to engage
fire. He’s wearing the regulation tweeds while Flintoff is badly
underdressed in an England tracksuit, something Botham isn’t slow to point
out. Flintoff later invites more abuse by parking his car on the lawn rather
than the tarmac. You can whiff the cordite. It’s Fred, Both and Two Smoking
Barrels.
Understandably, both are supportive of another “star” player, Kevin Pietersen,
being given the England captaincy. “Kevin’s hugely talented, confident,
single-minded and hard working and he’ll take all that into his captaincy,”
Flintoff said. “In that first innings [at The Oval] he thrived on the
responsibility. He averages 50 now and it wouldn’t surprise me if he
averages 70 as captain.”
Botham has long adhered to the idea of England players as lions led by
administrative donkeys and implies that selectorial bungling had a part in
Michael Vaughan’s downfall. “Vaughan just got to the end of his tether,” he
says. “You could see there were things on his mind.”
Asked where he thought the South Africa series was lost, he added:
“Headingley. Full stop. It was a bloody disaster. People are entitled to
know what happened with England’s selection there. It didn’t make any sense,
bringing in a guy who had played six matches ahead of Chris Tremlett, Steve
Harmison and all the others who had been told to go back to county cricket
and take wickets and had been doing that. That was mentally the final nail
in Vaughan’s coffin.”
Botham believes that if England could have fielded Flintoff and Harmison
throughout, they would have won the series. “I didn’t understand the logic
of picking Harmison for Edgbaston and then not playing him,” he said. “He’d
have been very good on that surface.”
Flintoff agreed that Harmison’s return had added a vital extra dimension to
the bowling. “From the first over he bowled, Steve gave everyone a lift,” he
said. “Suddenly we’d got this guy roughing up the South Africans. Look at
the way some of the wickets fell - Ashwell Prince flashing to point [off
James Anderson] had a lot to do with Steve taking him out of his comfort
zone at the other end.
“After he’d bowled that first over he said, ‘I’ve been waiting god knows how
long to bowl that over’. He was desperate to play for England. One thing
that has annoyed me is people saying Steve doesn’t want to play for England.
That’s burnt me for a while now and I know it has him. I said a long time
ago, and I’ve been criticised for it, that when Steve’s fully fit he’s the
best in the world. I love bowling with him. He makes things happen.”
Flintoff blamed England’s defeat on poor batting displays on the first days at
Leeds and Birmingham: “It was important for Kevin and the side to get a win
[at The Oval] but at the end of the day we were runners-up, so there was
mixed emotions. Should we have been beaten 2-1? We probably underperformed.
Over the past five days we’ve been pretty good but in some ways it was a
case of too little, too late.”
Perhaps another contributory factor to England’s disjointed performance was
the confusion over how best to use the returning Flintoff. What did they
think?
Botham: “Fred has to be used as one of five bowlers. England don’t
work as a four-man unit. Graeme Smith proved that at Edgbaston, where he was
able to milk the attack. You can’t do that with five bowlers. Never mind
Fred at seven, he’s your genuine allrounder, he goes at six.”
Flintoff: “I look back to England’s major successes of the past few
years and they were with four seamers and a spinner. In the build-up to the
2005 Ashes, I was scoring runs at No 6. I’m well aware that if
I bat six I’ve got to score runs. I’ve done it before against the best players
in the world and I can do it again. I’m not at my best yet but I can feel it
coming back. These one-dayers might be the perfect opportunity.”
Botham: “I’d actually open the batting with Fred in the one-dayers
because I can see him getting wasted down the order. Fred likes the ball
coming on. It was the best position I ever batted in one-day cricket and I
wish I’d done it earlier. I’d let Fred have a run there for the whole
series. I don’t know what he thinks . . . ”
Flintoff: “To be honest, I feel equipped to play anywhere . . . ”
Botham laughs: “That means yes.” Asked about whether the side can be improved,
Botham is adamant that it can be, while Flintoff is understandably publicly
in favour of the status quo.
“We’re nowhere near right yet,” Botham said. “I’m afraid that Tim Ambrose is
not the right guy. He’ll get blown away by the big boys. He looks out of his
depth with the bat. Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores will want an idea of
their best side by the start of the Caribbean [tour]. The time for
experimenting should stop at Christmas.”
“We need a settled side that grows together,” adds Flintoff. “In Peter Moores
we’ve got a good man. The personnel is good. Everyone spoke about Troy
Cooley, and Troy was very good, but his job was quite easy in some ways.
Ottis [Gibson] has helped guys who are trying to make their way. Guys who’ve
worked with Andy Flower rate him but ultimately it’s down to the players and
that’s something we’ve got to take on board.”
Flintoff hopes to outdo Botham in at least one respect. Botham played only 23
Tests after his 30th birthday, with much-reduced effectiveness after a major
back operation. Flintoff turned 30 last December but remains bullish that
his best years lie ahead of him. “I wouldn’t have put myself through all I
have with my ankle operations and all the scrutiny if I didn’t believe I
could play better,” he says. “I needed to get through a few Tests and I’m
happy now. Now I have to start delivering.”
How the great allrounders compare
IAN BOTHAM
Botham made his Test debut against Australia in 1977 at the age of 21
Played 102 Tests before bowing out against Pakistan in June 1992
Scored 5,200 runs at 33.54 with a best of 208, hitting 14 centuries and 22
fifties. He claimed 383 wickets at 28.40, taking five wickets in an innings
on 27 occasions and 10 wickets in a match four times
Botham regularly fell foul of the media and the cricket authorities. He was
suspended in 1986 after admitting that he had smoked cannabis and was
accused of breaking a bed while making love to a beauty queen while on tour
with England
ANDREW FLINTOFF
Flintoff made his Test debut against South Africa in 1998 at the age of 20
He has played 70 Tests
He has scored 3,494 runs at 32.35 with a best of 167, hitting five centuries
and 24 fifties. Has claimed 206 Test wickets at 32.21, and taken five
wickets in an innings twice but has never managed 10 wickets in a match
After the 2005 Ashes victory, Flintoff was so drunk he was barely able to
speak before the team’s victory parade
At the 2007 World Cup, he fell out of a pedalo after a night out and had to be
rescued. He was stripped of the vice-captaincy of the England one-day side
