Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff MBE (born 6 December 1977) is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. His nickname “Freddie” or “Fred” comes from the similarity between his surname and that of Fred Flintstone. On 15 July 2009 he announced his retirement from Test cricket at the conclusion of the 2009 Ashes series, on 24 August, but made himself available for future commitments in One Day International and Twenty20 International matches. On 16 September 2010, he announced his retirement from all cricket. He made his Test match debut for England in 1998 against South Africa at Trent Bridge, in a match remembered for its second-innings duel between Michael Atherton and Allan Donald; in a precursor to their subsequent all-round rivalry, Flintoff and Jacques Kallis exchanged wickets. in 2000 he hit 135 not out in the Quarter-finals of the Natwest Trophy against Surrey, which David Gower described as “the most awesome innings we are ever going to see on a cricket field”. He matched this haul in the Second Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston in July, hitting a first-class best figure of 167. Over the course of England’s record-breaking summer, he hit a half-century in all seven victorious Tests against New Zealand and the West Indies.
