http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Flintoff-c44360 – Cricket News Update
Former English all-rounder, Andrew Flintoff, has urged the current England side to carry on with the winning momentum in a bid to retain their position at the top of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 Test rankings.
The Englishmen clinched the No. 1 spot in the standings with an emphatic 4-0 victory in the recent Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. After crushing the World Champions in the longest version of the sport, the Poms sealed the ODI series as well.
Reiterating his stance that the present English crew is a far better side than the one that defeated http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in 2005, Flintoff uttered that as soon as England reached the pinnacle of rankings, a huge responsibility of producing good results in the future
has automatically come to them.
"In 2005 we weren't the best team in the world, Australia were. We could go out and play and we weren't expected really to beat them, we surprised a few. The pressures on this side are different, they're head and shoulders above everybody else. With that
comes a responsibility to win," Flintoff said during his latest interview to ESPNcricinfo.
The excellence of the existing England team is evident from the fact that two of their players, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IJL-Trott-c1576, scooped the ICC Awards for their outstanding performance during the last one year.
Flintoff further described that the game has changed a lot over the last five years, as it needs to be fitter to have a long International career at the moment.
Comparing the captaincy skills of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Michael-Paul-Vaughan-c76145 who led the English troop to a historic Ashes triumph in 2005, the blistering all-rounder shared that Vaughan was a more aggressive and attacking skipper than Strauss. He however, clarified
that Strauss’ captaincy is not negative but safer and more calculating.
"Michael was more of a free spirit [than Strauss] as a captain, probably more aggressive. Strauss is safer as a captain. I wouldn't say he's negative, but safe," added the 33-year-old cricketer who played a pivotal role in his team’s 2005 Ashes glory by
scoring 402 runs plus claiming 24 wickets.
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