The greatest over

CAN I have a memory of Andrew Flintoff that doesn’t involve pedalos, post-Ashes partying or plugs for Red Bull? (And can I call him Andrew now, rather than Freddie?) I’ll take Edgbaston 2005, and the greatest over of a career that he confirmed today is at an end.

I love the Ashes

THERE was much to enjoy about the Test which sealed Ashes victory for England – Stuart Broad’s flurry of wickets on Friday, Ricky Ponting’s run out on Sunday, Andrew Flintoff’s surprising – and genuine – insistence that he was going to reign in his post-match celebrations this time around. But I particularly enjoyed a curious radio exchange between Geoffrey Boycott and Steve Bruce on Saturday afternoon.

Raining champions

THERE was a chap on the radio the other day from the Met Office, trying gamely to defend their ability to predict the weather after they had been forced to alter their summer forecast from “glorious” to “glorious for fish”.

The ordinary man breaks out

IN the course of a superb feature for the Guardian in 2005, Simon Hattenstone came up with this description of Freddie “Andrew” Flintoff: “There seems to be an ordinary man trying to break out of the superman carapace and retire to a quiet corner of the pub.”

This is not Twenty20

THE most gripping Test of the 2005 Ashes series wasn’t, I would venture, the dramatic encounter at Edgbaston, when Michael Kasprowicz gloved a Steve Harmison thunderbolt to the wicketkeeper with Australia just one big hit from victory. It was the following Test at Old Trafford, when last pair Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath had to see out a nerve-shredding final four overs to earn a draw.

Enjoy Leicester, Ricky

A FRIEND of mine is convinced (and has tried to convince me) that the World Twenty20 is a lottery. And I will admit that there are a couple of similarities: 1) I have never bought a ticket for either of them; 2) In both cases, Paul Collingwood’s chances of claiming the jackpot is roughly one in 14 million. (Just watch: he’ll go and win both now.)

Trouble Dutch

THE opening ceremony was cancelled, Kevin Pietersen pulled out with an injury and England managed to lose to the Netherlands. Apart from that, the ECB will be thrilled with the first day of the World Twenty20.

Refer and refresh

INDIGNATION is a key ingredient of the sporting experience. It is impossible, I believe, to truly enjoy a sporting event unless there is something to have a good moan about. How many newspaper articles, how many sporting blogs, do you come across where the writer is happy to trill on about how marvellous everything is?

Blimey, Sir Allen

I MUST admit, I felt a tinge of disappointment when Sir Allen Stanford failed to win the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award a couple of months ago.

KP crunch

FOR every time Kevin Pietersen has scored a brilliant century for England, there has been an occasion when he has skied one straight into the hands of a fielder 20 yards in from the boundary rope. So it shouldn’t really be a surprise that his reign as England captain has blown up just as spectacularly.