Andrew Flintoff, commonly known in the cricketing fraternity as “Freddie” is one of the greatest ever all-rounders to grace the game.
Free hit contributor – Kasun Ekneligoda
Born in Preston and playing first class cricket for Lancashire, he came to the limelight in late 90’s, opening the door to wear English colours. Renowned for being a power hitter, he could simply smack it out of the park. His bowling was as good, with blazing pace giving batsmen chin music. His intimidating swing was perfect for the English conditions. He was instrumental in the Ashes of 2005 and 2009 where England won and was probably at the pinnacle of his international game. But being injury prone, he couldn’t live up on the high as the curtains rolled down after 2010, forcing him to hang up his boots for England. It was not just his skill that made him the talking point. He was so aggressive on the pitch and customarily off the pitch. From a glare to tyrannical sledging, he was a hot head to compete with.
Muttiah Muralitharan, fondly known as “Murali”, needs no introduction. Arguably the greatest bowler to play the game, he is most definitely the greatest off spinner the world has ever seen. Born and raised in Kandy, he spun his way to legendary status, bamboozling the greatest batsmen of his generation. From St. Anthony’s to Tamil Union to national colours, he did wonders with the ball, turning it both ways, giving sleepless nights to many batsmen, something not even the most fierce pacemen could do. He had such an illustrious career, claiming the most wickets at test and limited overs level under his name. Being scrutinized for his bowling action over and over again, Murali stood his ground to prove himself. He was such a nasty character on the pitch with an insatiable hunger to win. But off the pitch, he was a humble bloke who was down to earth with everybody. Being contrasting personalities, it was hard to imagine Freddie and Murali would become great mates. But indeed, it happened.
The Lancashire comrades
Though Murali entered the national side in 1992, it was the period post-1996 where he really bust onto the scene. He was a genuine off spinner, posing a reasonable threat to opposition, hitting an occasional purple patch. He was developing his doosra in the interim to add to his artillery and was a master of it at the start of 1998/99 season. His best match performance till retirement, came in the solitary test against England at Oval in 1998 when Murali bagged match figures of 16 for 220 with a 9 wicket haul in the 2nd innings, which was the icing on the cake. Not only were the English bewildered by his wizardry, they were mesmerized up to the point where Lancashire rang him almost immediately to represent them for the upcoming county stint. Accepting the offer, Murali wore the Lancashire cap for the 1st time in 1999. It was then that he met a young, brawny troublemaker simply known as “Freddie”. Murali, known for his cricketing knowledge and his enthusiasm for the game, which even once made “Mr. Cricket” (Mike Hussey) stop talking and listen gleefully, was no different to Freddie. They spoke for hours and hours on and off the pitch discussing cricket and life, making them great buddies.
“You probably wouldn’t put me and Murali together as mates”
“You look at the background, you look at the way we are, everything about us is completely different.”
“I’m 6ft 4ins to his 5ft 6ins; he grew up in Kandy, I grew up in Preston. Personalities, public perception… why we’re such good friends, I don’t know.”
This was what Freddie had to say to BBC, when asked about his great mate Murali and their friendship. But after years of sharing a dressing room, he speculates that it was a mutual love of cricket and their similar life approach that brought the pair together. Murali went on to represent Lancashire again in 2001,2005 and 2007, making their friendship grow lush over the years.
Secret Pacts
There were few secrets that Murali and Freddie shared for a while when they were locking horns against each other. Whenever an England Vs Sri Lanka series was on show, they used to go out for dinner the night before the game and clear up the protocol. The most famous of it which was later discovered, was when they agreed to go a little easy on each other. Murali promised not to bowl a single doosra to Freddie while Freddie returned the favour by promising not to bowl a single bouncer to Murali. While both raised eyebrows, they had ample moments where they got the better of each other.
“I’d say ‘if you get three wickets, I’ll buy you a crispy duck’ – and he’d say to me ‘if you get 50, I’ll buy you two packs of Guinness!”
This was Freddie reminiscing his moments with Murali the day before a test match between the two countries. While both nations had a topsy turvy rivalry with each other, beyond defeat or triumph, their friendship flourished.
Chilling with chats
Freddy admired Murali the most not just because of his bemusing off spin, but also due to his courage and grit, to pulverize his way through with the criticism he was pressed to the wall with. Freddie frequently used to call Murali a “free spirit” who would make him chuckle whatever the mood Freddie would be in. It was in a crucial game in the county championship and Lancashire were in a spot of bother when Freddie had a rush of blood costing his wicket. He didn’t utter a single word after returning to the dressing room. Murali approached him and sat for a good 15 minutes to clear out the mundane mood before breaking the ice.
“So what happened Freddie? Another s**t shot?”
It brought Freddie back to his senses. He loved evoking memories of how Murali tipped him to approach the bowling, next time when he would go on to face them. Murali had been such a jovial character giving advice to top level batsmen on how to bat which made him such a hard to miss guy in the dressing room. But there were occasions when Murali was earnest with his conversations. Freddie used to recall a conversation they had after meeting in Bangladesh in 1999 when Murali had been tested twice because of the mere optical illusion of chucking and due to his almost double jointed wrist making an unimaginable twist. This was one of the occasions that gave Freddie an insight of how much Murali wanted to prove himself legal.
“I’m not a cheat Freddie. This is what I was born with. I have been bowling my whole life like this. I just want to prove myself to the critics.”
Freddie quoted Murali with the above statement in an interview to the “Sunday Express” back in the UK many years later.
Murali forgets his bat
Being great friends, there were many memorable incidents that wrapped around the off spinner and the allrounder. But what takes the jackpot was what happened at the Natwest series in 2002 when Sri Lanka toured England. In their habitual dinner the day before the second test, Murali asked for a favour from Freddie.
“Fred, I haven’t got any bats left. Can I borrow one of yours?”
Since they both shared the same bat sponsor, Freddie didn’t hesitate. But he had one hurdle to climb over. It was their captain Nasser Hussain. Nasser had banned English players from having any conversation with Murali. They just wanted to freeze him out to make it feel as hostile as possible. Even Freddie’s night out was undisclosed to the dressing room under these circumstances. The next day, when they were warming up for the game, Murali approached Freddie again to make his promise count.
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“Nasser was glaring at me from a distance, clearly very unhappy. So I said to Murali as quickly as possible, ‘When we go out to field, go into the England dressing rooms. Just nip in the back door and take one of my bats – but keep the whole thing under your hat.”
That was what Freddie said to Murali to make sure their necks were not on the line. And the plan worked perfectly. Sri Lanka were put to bat by Nasser after winning the toss and it was a genuine day at the office for the English pacers as they ran through the Sri Lankan top order. At tea time, they had already exposed the Lankan tail. Then it was time for Murali to make strides to the ground with Freddie’s bat in hand. Freddie had been handed the ball by Nasser and had been told to bounce Murali out.
Nasser- “I want you to go at him. Short stuff.’
(Remembering the pact Freddie had with Murali on bouncers)
Freddie- “Nasser, I think I can get a yorker through him, nice and full will do the job here.”
Nasser- “No, I just told you, I want you to go at him.’
Freddie- “No, I’m going to try and bowl him. Hit the stumps. Job done.’
Not wanting to bowl to Nasser’s instructions, Freddie bowled a yorker and Murali was perfectly up to the task, fending away from the middle of his bat, to be precise, “Freddie’s bat”.
Not following Nasser’s word cost Freddie his bowling spell as he was taken off by his furious captain. And then Murali started blocking the rest of the pacers. To everyone’s astonishment, Murali middled pretty much all of them. After hitting the last ball of an over for a maximum, Murali was on the way down the pitch when he stood between Freddie and Nasser. Murali without knowing who was right behind him went on to say,
“Thanks, It’s a f***ing good bat Freddie”.
Freddie had no other option but to gently walk away while looking at Nasser from the corner of his eye. All he could see was a boiling face with vaguely audible filth flying from his mouth towards him. It is alleged that Nasser didn’t speak to Freddie for a week after.
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Both had the opportunity to share the same dressing room again in ICC super series vs Australia when they represented the World XI as well as for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL season 2009. Though they had been quite distant since then, it is with great pleasure that Freddie rekindles the memories of his times with the legend Muttiah Muralitharan.
