Atherton pays tribute to Flintoff for England’s historic win
By chennaivision at 21 July, 2009, 3:24 pm
London, He had described Andrew Flintoff as a ‘’second-hand car” before the series, but former England captain Michael Atherton was effusive in his praise for the star all-rounder after the historic second Test victory over Australia at the Lord’s.
Flintoff led from the front with figures of 5/92 in the second innings as England recorded a 115-run win in the second Ashes Test- their first over the visitors at the Lord’s in 75 years.
”He bowled superbly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an English bowler with as much fire and hostility as he had this morning,” Atherton wrote in his coloumn for ‘The Times’.
Flintoff has struggled with a spate of injuries in recent times and Atherton was worried that his efforts on the final day of the Test may have put too much stress on his already tired body.
However, with a nine-day break before the third Test at Edgbaston, Flintoff is expected to stage a full recovery.
”But will that have taken its toll on his body? We’ve got a nine-day break now before the third Test, so that should help him recover. Nobody’s really privy to the details of his injury - but he was bowling at 93mph this morning, so he can’t be that bad,” Atherton quipped.
Commenting on Australia’s performance, the 41-year-old former right-hander felt that the visitors will have to sort out their bowling but warned that England still have a lot of work to do if they have to win the series.
”Where do Australia go from here in their preparation for Edgbaston? They have serious problems with their bowling. Mitchell Johnson has bowled dreadfully, but I think their attack simply isn’t as good as England’s.
”When you’ve got two relatively evenly-matched sides, it’s the one with the best attack that will win the matches,” he wrote.
”And England? Today will have given them a huge boost of confidence.
”Yes, they’ll be confident, but they’ll remember that there’s a long way to go. They’ll also remember that Australia went one-nil up in the series in 2005 - taking an early lead doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll win the Ashes,” he added.
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