Because Flintoff arrived later into the world of turbulent triumph, because he came not as an intrepid and impressionable youth but as an adult familiar, he has managed it altogether better than his predecessor. Perhaps, too, like Henry IV, he was haunted by the spectre of coming responsibility. With his liking for country walks, holidays in Devon, marriage to a thoughtful and capable woman and friendship with the excellent Steve Harmison, he does seem to be an intelligent and sensitive man.Far from plunging devil-may-care into the pond, Flintoff trod warily around its edges, half-preferring life on dry land, half-concerned about drowning in the murkiness. For years he was dismissed as lazy and overrated, not least by those currently singing his praises loudest.
He was overweight and for an unconscionable period failed to fulfil his manifest ability. Why? Perhaps humility lay behind his uncertainty, a suspicion that fame and glory might not suit him or anyhow that he was not ready for them. I never cared about any of that.Ultimately Botham must be thanked for the towering contribution he made in his early years, and for the way he took cricket to the common man. Then he must be chastised for spoiling it all with the excesses that followed. Excesses that were partly to blame for the decline of English cricket during the 1980s.In some respects Flintoff has been fortunate precisely because he was a late developer. Certainly he missed a World Cup, preferring to play for Queensland, an arrangement that ended in tears Barrington might have stopped this nonsense.
Alas, he proved irreplaceable.Playing too much cricket, lacking senior figures to respect, running too loose and without a central contract to lighten his load, Botham fell into bad habits. Like his impressive successor, he responds to his surroundings When the atmosphere was poor, he was the worst offender. When the team was strong and purposeful, he became a mighty figure. But he could not himself make the necessary arrangements because he wanted to be loved by all and sundry. Had Barrington survived a few more years, English cricket might have avoided the disturbances that followed , the rebel tours and the scandals. According to Graham Gooch and Ali Bacher, Botham nearly joined the rebels in South Africa.
Cartwright instructed his willing pupil in the crafts of swing and cut bowling, Close brought out the fighter in him.Next Botham fell into the hands of Mike Brearley and Ken Barrington, another coupling of head and heart, two more fully developed men relishing the spirit of their young charge as he displayed an audacity they admired and had never known. Nowadays, those who do not go along with him fall by the wayside.Botham was lucky in his early days, and unlucky later. With Flintoff it has been the other way around, and accordingly his legacy will be healthier. Botham spent his formative years under the stewardship of Brian Close and Tom Cartwright, the heart and the brain, the cricketing version of Churchill and Atlee He could not have been in better hands.
Even as a teenager, Botham was not scared of exposure or the heat of battle. He pretended not to care that ancients dismissed him as a wild youth enjoying a run of luck, but it hurt. It is odd that man can at once challenge failure and fear rejection Botham’s ferocity towards enemies is founded on this fear. He knew how to swing the ball but wanted to avoid death by analysis Likewise, Flintoff responds to the cheers Both are big men for big stages. Juxtaposition can mislead by neatness.As performers, then, the all-rounders have their differences Actually Flintoff is not a performer at all, but a player both men were shaped by their experiences Botham leapt into fame as a duck leaps into a pond No sooner had he seen the water than he knew it was for him And so it proved Of course, it was an act of courage. It was an even more remarkable piece of assessment and opportunism. Only old fogeys thought he might not make it, then and subsequently.
