Andrew Flintoff's debut in International Cricket

Andrew Flintoff’s debut match for England was the Fourth Test of the 1998 series against South Africa at home. England, who at that point, were trailing the five match Test series 0-1, were in desperate need of a victory to turn their fortunes and draw level in the series.

Freddie Flintoff’s first task in the match was with the ball. England skipper Alec Stewart won the toss and decided to bowl first. Flintoff was brought on to bowl as the second change bowler in the game. South Africa were re-building their innings after losing their top three batsmen inside 27 overs. Jacques Kallis and skipper Hansie Cronje put on a good partnership of 79 runs, when Flinftoff struck for England. Flintoff induced an edge of Kallis’ bat through to wicket-keeper Alec Stewart, thus ending Kallis’ resistance at the crease. South Africa were evetually bowled out for 374. Kallis had his revenge over Flintoff soon though, and dismissed Flintoff for 17 in his first Test innings for England.

Thanks to a stellar bowling effort from fast bowler Angus Fraser, England bowled out South Africa for just 208 in their second innings, to set up a final day chase of 247 runs to win the game. England won the match by 8 wickets and drew level in the Test series on the final day of the Test match. Flinftoff was dimissed for zero in both innings of the next Test, and also went wicketless in both the innings, but England secured a 23-run victory, bowling South Africa out for 195 in fourth innings of the match, to win the Test series 2-1.

The following year, Flintoff made his ODI debut at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium in Sharjah during the Tri-Series tournament featuring India, England and Pakistan. The first match of the series was against Pakistan, and Fintoff, who was the seventh English bowler in the game, went for over 8.80 runs/over. Chasing a steep target of 324 runs from their 50 overs, England reached a total of 185 runs from 33 overs. Flintoff and middle order batsman Greame Hick put on 94 runs for the fifth wicket.

England needed a further 139 runs to win the match, with 17 overs still remaining, when off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq struck twice in the same over to remove both Hick and Flintoff. Flintoff was dismissed for exactly 50 off 51 balls and hit 2 fours and 4 sixes in his innings. England fell short of their target by 90 runs. Freddie will always be remembered for his stellar role in the 2005 Ashes triumph at home where he was named the man of the series. He retired from Test Cricket in 2009 after regaining the Ashes and from all forms in 2010.