London, July 14: Andrew Flintoff is as reliable as a second hand car and England should not unnecessarily panic over the fitness of the all-rounder who is no more the talisman he was four years ago, according to former captain Mike Atherton.
As England sweat over Flintoff’s fitness after a knee injury rendered the all-rounder doubtful for the second Ashes Test, Atherton said it was not the end of the world for the hosts.
“Whisper it…but the injury to Andrew Flintoff is not necessarily bad news for England.
“That is no longer the kind of heretical statement that would, once upon a time, have brought upon the perpetrator the Inquisition. There is now a general realisation that the talismanic all-rounder of four years ago is not as central to England’s success as before,” Atherton wrote in ‘The Times’.
–PTI