Stick to Cricket Episode Two: Andrew Flintoff on England, McCullum and WWE

• Special guest Flintoff joins already stellar line-up on episode 2

• England legend on Brendon McCullum and his own coaching career

• Find out how 'Big Fred' nearly joined the WWE

• Betfair Predicts is your essential guide to England v India this summer

Stick to Cricket Episode 2

Watch Stick to Cricket Episode 2, a star-studded new cricket show from Betfair and The Overlap, featuring England legends Michael Vaughan, Sir Alastair Cook, David 'Bumble' Lloyd, and Phil 'Tuffers' Tufnell...

The weekly show offers insights and discussions, with special guests joining the cricket icons to delve into the sport's hottest topics.

In the second episode, the line-up gets even stronger as the panel are joined by another England legend - former-captain Andrew Flintoff - to talk Brendon McCullum's success as head coach, look ahead to the England v India second Test and more. 

Watch the full episode here and read some of the standout quotes below.

Flintoff: I fell out of love with cricket when I had to retire at 31 

"I fell out of love with cricket. I genuinely thought my best years were ahead of me at 31. Especially as a bowler, I was bowling quicker, my batting was coming back and I was thinking the next three years are my years, but I never got that. 

"I couldn't be around it. When you retire, everything moves on and you're left behind. It's not a criticism, that's just how it is. I didn't watch cricket and didn't want to be around it." 

Flintoff: TV jobs were never the plan, I nearly joined the WWE 

"We moved to Dubai. The plan was, I was going to play in the IPL and I was going to play for Brisbane, basing ourselves in Dubai. Unashamedly, if I could earn a bit of IPL money tax-free I'm sorted. 

"When I had to retire, we decided to go through with it anyway and it was probably a good move getting away, my lifestyle wasn't great at the time. 

"I just hid for a bit and started to wonder: 'What am I going to do now?' Some of the TV offers started to come, which was never the plan - I stumbled into that. 

"I nearly joined the WWE, I didn't want to box, that was never the plan! I would have been called 'Big Fred'!" 

Flintoff: I was offered a contract by WWE 

"What happened was, it got to a point in Dubai where I was unfit, I'd put weight on and I was just not in a good place. I wanted to get fit again, but I needed motivation. 

"As a kid, I loved WWE, so I came up with this idea, because I was doing League of Their Own with Sky, to fight the Undertaker in Manchester! 

"I wrote this treatment up and presented the idea to Sky, it started gathering momentum and next minute it's being passed onto WWE. I was in contact with the WWE and Vince McMahon! 

"Dave Roberts 'Rooster' who was a physiotherapist who lived with us throughout my career, lived with us and looked after us. I asked him to send a trainer over to Dubai for six weeks because I needed to bulk up. 

"He sent this fella over, I trained my nuts off, got fit and then the WWE flew me to Tampa. Me and the missus have gone over to Tampa, I've got two weeks at wrestling academy. 

"They fly us over business class, next morning we get in the car and go to WWE's academy, two massive units all branded. We're sitting in the car and these things are walking past me, like 6ft 8in monsters.

 "My missus asked, are you going to be okay? I said, 'yeah, I'll be fine'. I walked in - on the first day, nobody liked me because it's really competitive with 60 of us all wanting a contract with the WWE - then this English lad walked in. 

"So I go in and we do the warm-ups, then they put me in the ring for three hours and I just ran the ropes; I'd run into someone and they'd throw me. 

"The second day I went in there, I had lashes all down my back and my missus said 'are you alright with this?'. I was sore and thought something's not right here. 

"I said to this physio: 'I think I'm having a back spasm'; so they're all like 'ohh the English lad's got a back spasm'. So they put me on the couch, he's pushing me and I can feel my ribs separating.

 "I said 'mate, I think I've broken my ribs'. He said I'd be in so much pain and I was like 'mate, I want to cry but I can't in there'. I went for an X-ray and this fella who puts it up asked 'what do you do' I said 'I'm a wrestler'. He asked, 'how long have you been doing this' and I said 'two days'.

 "We did all of that - on the third day you do acting lessons, but I didn't think I was in on it. I was just sitting minding my own business and they said 'Fred, you're up'. I got up, and I had the microphone in my hand saying how hard I am; but I didn't like that so said 'can I do another'. 

"I looked out and there were all of these weird and wonderful looking people, so I just tore them all a new one. They were trying to get me to wind up after two minutes but I was not finished. 

"Two weeks later, I got an email from WWE, saying: 'You can't do your documentary because you'll give the secrets away. We want to put you on a three-year contract'. 

"They said: 'We'll fast-track you and in 18 months you'll be at WrestleMania and Royal Rumble'.

 "The money was obscene, but we wanted to move back from Dubai. The kids wanted to play cricket and didn't want to go to America, so I just changed it to boxing and had a fight instead." 

Flintoff: Field of Dreams taught me about how to build a team

 "If I'd have coached years ago, I think that I would have been completely different now. I've always had this itch to scratch when it's come to coaching. 

"If I started when I finished playing at 31, firstly, I don't think I'd have got a job and secondly, I don't think I'd have been any good. Even five years ago I think that I would have been a bit like Neil Warnock, shouting and screaming. 

"Now I'm pretty chilled - don't get me wrong, I like the technical side of the game but I've got people around me for that. I've got Neil Killeen as bowling coach, Neil McKenzie the best batting coach I've ever seen. 

"Sarah Taylor is doing the fielding and the 'keeping and Ed Barney, I've got a great partnership with him as a performance director. 

"I like talking to the lads, you get to know them as people and I think only once you do that, you can start coaching them. 

"One thing which is a prerequisite - we work hard, we enjoy it and are respectful. I think a lot of these lads think the same - they put so much pressure on themselves, it's about taking the pressure off them. 

"I hate it when people say they don't want it enough and they don't try. It's the complete opposite and they want it too much. I've had experience of that with my own boys as well. 

"Doing Field of Dreams was a big help. I had a group of lads, who from autism, ADHD, behavioural problems, all with really specific needs, it taught me a lot about how a team can run." 

Flintoff: I want characters to shine through in the dressing room 

"I like peoples' characters, I want them to shine through in dressing rooms. It's the one thing we've got which is unique to ourselves. I genuinely think if you watch a player on form, doing well the traits of his personality you can see within the game. 

"Players are better now - in a dressing room, the characters are a lot nicer. The dressing room is a great place to be and I enjoy being in that." 

Flintoff: Taking a step back from cricket helped 

"I've learned some things doing the coaching badges, about setting up sessions and what type of coach I want to be. So, when you're going through it I think you're learning things about yourself. 

"Taking a step back from cricket has helped, you go out into the world and it's a very different place. You go back into it and firstly you're so grateful for the game and think why have I not been in here for so long." 

Flintoff: Coaching is a privilege, not a job 

"Nothing comes close to coaching, I genuinely don't see it as a job, it's a privilege. I'm in a dressing room, working with England's best young players - they're great kids. 

"Over the winter, Sonny Baker, giving him a debut in Australia, somebody let him go! Eddie Jack last week, a fast-bowler, his first wicket was Jaiswal and he's got KL Rahul. I gave him a debut. 

"On the surface you're quite calm, but you just want these lads to do so well. I think with the role I've got now, obviously we want to win, but it's something we never really talk about. 

"You get a group and a team together and it's a given that you want to win. I'm more interested in how we play and how we go about things. 

"These lads, there's different wins along the way. For me, if some of these lads play for England that's a win, it's not just about the game." 

Flintoff: I'm not looking at taking over from Baz McCullum

 "[Becoming England's Head Coach] is not something I'm looking at, Baz McCullum is incredible - the best England coach. He's unbelievable and the culture he's created is incredible; the way in which England plays and how they work, how they are as people.

 "It's similar to what Gareth Southgate did with the football lads, not just good players but great lads as well they are. 

"I'm enjoying working under Keysy [Rob Key]. It's no secret he's one of my best mates and he's helped me so much in other things. Baz, we've got a great relationship and the utmost respect. 

"Honestly, at the moment, I feel as though I'm in the perfect place working with the Lions. I don't see this as a stepping stone to anything else, I'm invested in this and get a chance to work with these lads. 

"I'm not looking at the franchise world or anything else, although I do the Northern Superchargers which came around last year and I enjoy working with Harry Brook on that. 

"I've been guilty of, in the TV world and in retirement, of always looking for the next thing, chasing things. I'm actually really happy, working with great lads and great staff around me. I think 'I've got a job to do here' and it's not like 'what's next?'."

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