It was always a concern that Andrew Flintoff would succumb to injury after going to play in the IPL. It came as no real surprise to learn that he has sustained an injury on his right knee. He is returning home to have more surgery which will rule him out of the forthcoming West Indies series.
It seems to be one injury after another for Flintoff and the extent of his participation in the Ashes series must surely be in doubt. You have to wonder whether his body can continue to cope with the demands of being a pace bowler. He will work hard and overcome this latest setback just like previous ones. When he is match fit again how long will it be before he is injured again?
There is a nagging feeling the all rounder will struggle to avoid injuries for the rest of his career. Flintoff is a giant of a man and his size puts enormous stress on his body when he is bowling. It is possible that with age his body is no longer able to stand up to such rigorous activity. Many sportsmen suffer terrible luck with injuries and there comes a time when you have to question whether the body can keep going.
Nobody wants to see Flintoff retire because he is such a key player for England. When he regains full fitness then surely his workload needs to be lightened. This has been said before but then we had the farcical scenes in the West Indies where Flintoff was continuing to bowl whilst clearly injured. That was a classic example of how dependant on Flintoff the team has become.
They have not said so but privately England would have preferred Flintoff to sit out the IPL. They now face an anxious wait to get him fit and firing for the important series against Australia.
The Complete Cricket Trading Solution For Betfair.
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Flintoff Injured In The IPL
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
He is becoming a bit like a fancy but ageing sports car, great when everything works but soon breaks down.
True, It is a shame for the bloke. I would not put my house on him playing in all five tests against the Aussies this summer.
With the IPL just around the corner the Castrol Index looks at a batsman or bowler’s performance in his core skill area. For a batsman it’s his Batting Momentum, the combination of runs scored and the rate at which those runs are scored.For bowlers it’s his Bowling Efficiency, the combination of wickets taken and the economy rate.
In order to do so, the Castrol Index calculates the average level of performance in non-core skills for any batsman or bowler and each player receives a Bonus or Penalty to his Castrol Index for performing above or below this number.
This is the most indept analysis ive come across on any site. Check out www.castrolcricket.com
Post a Comment