Flintoff shows that self-management is beyond him
Hindsight can be nauseating, the phrase ‘I told you so’ being the friend of the self-righteous and often self-delusional. Often they have told us no such thing. Most people with the above qualities are employed by the Daily Mail or a red top newspaper. However, on some occasions it is justified, namely those occasions when people did actually tell you so. And on those occasions when everybody told you so, you may start to think that they had a point. Well, Andrew Flintoff has got injured playing in the World Twenty20. I told you so. And so did everybody else.
A couple of months ago, Flintoff flew home from the test series in the West Indies with the latest in a long line of injuries. At the time most people expressing an opinion with nothing but the wellbeing of the England team in mind (ie people who don’t have pound signs where their pupils should be) stated that under no circumstances should Flintoff be allowed to play in the IPL. Given his past record he would surely get injured, if not in the IPL, then at some stage in the unforgiving schedule over the coming months.
As one of England’s prize assets, it was up to the ECB and the coaches to make sure he was managed correctly. They have a difficult balancing act in that they would not want to sacrifice the goodwill of a key player but their first obligation is to the England team and they should not let anything stand in the way of that.
But really the blame lies largely upon Flintoff himself. He could point towards the fact that this is a new injury but with his history and the stresses he puts on his body when he plays, time resting and some warm-up games with Lancashire were surely the order of the day. When he took over the reins as captain, Andrew Strauss called for players to take more responsibility for their own form, management and wellbeing. I would suggest that Flintoff, not for the first time, has shown himself incapable of doing this.
Decisions must now be taken out of his hands. Next year, should such a situation present itself, the ECB must be strong. This is tough as they may permit others to play and would be seen as not treating players equally. But all players need to be managed in different ways. Flintoff needs to be carefully managed but has shown that he cannot do it himself. The time has come for the powers that be to play his hand for him.
