Betfair Official Blog

"I wouldn't have had the operation if I believed I wouldn't come back" Andrew Flintoff tells Betfair

Click here to view market

betting.betfair.com columnist Ed Hawkins sits down with Andrew Flintoff to ask him about a fourth ankle operation, the possibility of playing just as a batsman and when he'll be back playing for England

When Andrew Flintoff walks in to a room he takes it over. He probably doesn't mean to, given his somewhat shy personality at a sponsors event at Harrods last week. Whether it is his 6ft 4in frame or those Ashes 2005 exploits that that demand reverence, Flintoff is the centre of attention.

Yet once the atmosphere of awe has passed slightly and the smattering of applause, which seem to accompany these sort of appearances has quietened down, the enraptured eyes move down from those still-boyish looks, past the massive shoulders which have sent down 90mph thunderbolts, the Flintstone-like forearms and to that pesky, brittle left ankle, which has undermined all of the above.

When one gets the opportunity to speak to the all-rounder the first question is inevitable. A pre-requisite that Flintoff admits he is beginning to tire from. "It's the first question I get asked all the time," he says. "I've had four operations on the ankle so I guess it's to be expected."

What follows that sentence will cheer cricket supporters the world over, however, as he bids to return to the England side in time for the first Test on May 15. "I feel great, like I've never had a problem with it."

Indeed Flintoff claims to have bowled at full pace for Lancashire against Surrey in the County Championship at The Oval last week. His first game back since going under the knife in October.

"I was bowling at full tilt occasionally. It was just great to be back, the captain throwing me the ball and then seeing if I could get it down as quick as I could."

It has been a remarkable turnaround for Flintoff, who looked a broken cricketer when hobbling in to the crease in the World Twenty20 in South Africa in September.

Flintoff even considered playing only as a batsman so he wouldn't have to give up the game. "I feel I could have played on just as batsman," he says, "although some people would question that given my previous form but I'm sure the ability to score runs is still in there.

"I went to India with England Lions in February and I played a game just as a batter. It was only a one-day game and when you don't bowl, 50 overs is a long time, just prowling around the boundary."
Fortunately for England, Flintoff appears to have been saved from that future. "The operation is forgotten about. The ankle's not on my mind when I run in to bowl when in the past possibly that was the case. I just hope in three months no one asks me about it," he said.

"I would not have had the operation if I believed I wouldn't come back. I could've continued operating at 70-75 per cent, bowling on one leg as I tried to do at the Twenty20 World Cup, but that was no good for anyone and would have probably resulted in England not wanting me. So it had to be done."

He says he feels in great shape after more than six months of rehabilitation, which included trips to America, South Africa, India and Dubai: "The rehab was daunting because it was going to be longer than any other I've done and having come back three times already from ankle operations, the thought of going through all that again was not pleasant so we devised a programme, made it a bit more interesting by putting some travel in there with the full backing of the ECB, who have been fantastic. And here I am now, raring to go."

Just don't ask what Flintoff will do if he breaks down again. "You're jumping the gun a bit there?" he bristles. "I'm just getting back on a cricket field again and not even thinking about another operation."

• Cricket
• England Cricket