Pie Chucker

*Ok, so he’s from Preston.  So what?  It’s all the bleedin’ same, innit?

Flintoff to miss the first two Tests

Thousands of column inches have debated the potential return of Freddie Flintoff to the England Test Match side for Thursday’s game agains New Zealand but the will he/won’t he saga is over 24 hours before the announcement of the squad.  Many opinions have been proffered (Beefy “Don’t rush him back” Botham, Phil “Once he’s done the miles and got the wickets and is blasting on all cylinders then he can play for England, but I would leave it for a little while yet” Celebrity-Tufnell, Andy “You wouldn’t take a racehorse to Aintree for the Grand National if it’s knackered before you go” Caddick and Paul “He looks fine” Collingwood) but a side strain suffered on Friday means Freddie is out until the 3rd Test at least… probably re-igniting the ‘Will he ever play again?’ debate.  Roll on the start of the Test series.

Pie Chucker was hoping that Freddie would not have been selected anyway; he needs to prove his fitness over a longer period of time than 1 month of county cricket.  It seems increasingly unlikely that he’ll ever return to his peak though I desperately hope I’m wrong int that assumption.  After all, Fred’s looked after himself over the years - he’s clearly not been skipping any meals and has always taken large quantities of fluids. 

The Ashes 05 dream-seam-team are a distant memory. Moores and the selectors must be looking at the current crop of pacemen (Broad, Anderson, Sidebottom and those on the fringes) with only Hoggard in real contention from the Fletcher era, and basing future plans around them.  The return (to fitness) of Flintoff or (to form) of Harmison must be seen as a possible bonus, not a given.  The younger bowlers need to get experience against New Zealand because South Africa will provide a much sterner test, not to mention the oppo next summer.