| Andrew Flintoff was an England hero with a sense of chivalry | Mike Selvey The timing of his departure was crass but the all-rounder's part in Ashes folklore is undeniableThe manner in which Andrew Flintoff chose today to acknowledge a fitness battle lost even as the tightest County Championship for years was coming to its conclusion did him little credit. What abject, thoughtless timing, a slap in the face for the game that nurtured him and set him on the road to fame and considerable fortune.He and his advisers are sufficiently familiar with the machinations of many media desks which know little of county cricket and care even less, seeing only celebrity and names, to understand what would be placed top of the agenda. It is an uncharacteristic faux pas at odds with someone known for the generosity of his spirit.Raging against the dying of the light is what the top competitors do. The belief in their omnipotence, that injury is merely an obstacle to be overcome on an inevitable trip back to the mountain top is the thing that sustains them. They concede nothing, least of all to the passing of time. It is why anger creeps in at any suggestion of mortality. In truth, though, he has not now told us something that most would surely have recognised as inevitable once he went under the surgeon's knife again, a little more than a year ago and yet once more in the early summer.The stories of coming engagements with teams around the world were pipe-dreams: his management have been concentrating for some while on how best to handle his exit from the game and non‑cricketing future. In spite of this he has suffered through countless painful hours of rehab over the last 12 months, unstinting, conceding nothing, with an unquenchable desire to play cricket again not for the financial gain and glory of it any longer (he will not go short in cricket's Valhalla) but simply because that is what he loves doing. "It is not life-threatening," he remarked at the start of the week. "I've got a bad knee, that's all." But undeniably, a part of him will have died now.He was never one of the great all‑rounders, but a considerably better one than his statistics show superficially. He had the capacity to impact. He could take a game and tear it from the grasp of the opposition like no other contemporary in the England side. He was utterly indefatigable, never more so than in his heroic bowling at Lord's last year which won England the match and which perhaps precipitated his departure to the orthopedic operating theatre. When, in what was his last significant act for England, he ran out Ricky Ponting at The Oval last year, with a direct hit from mid‑off, it was a moment of inspiration. Only gifted players can produce such game-breakers on cue.Unquestionably, except in his own mind, he was a better bowler than batsman, a rampaging world-class fast bowler whose paltry three five-wicket hauls do not remotely do him justice. At times, perhaps, while physically menacing, and bowling the heaviest of balls, his direction of attack, which slanted in to right‑handers as his delivery arm went beyond the vertical, was not so disconcerting to the best players: the Australian batsman Michael Slater once confided how he found him comfortable to get away through midwicket on the angle. To left‑handers, though, he was a different proposition, not least from around the wicket when the ball was reverse swinging, a method in which he was bettered only by Glenn McGrath. His skill was in producing memorable spells, or overs, or even deliveries: the 50 overs he sent down against Sri Lanka because he felt he had to, and at what cost to himself; the legendary over at Edgbaston in 2005 when first he roasted Ponting and then dismissed him; the last gallant charge at Lord's.He was too cumbersome on his feet, and technically deficient to be a batsman of real quality, but once more he could change a game with his power. At his best he could bat at six and lend the side crucial balance, but he could not get the ugly runs when out of touch that top batsmen manage. Seven was ideal.Sport needs its heroes and Flintoff became that. Here was someone whose achievements were beyond reach of the aspirations of the public, yet who remained one of them. He batted as they would like to bat and bowled as they would want. He was personable, liked his ale, got into scrapes. When a young boy got bullied at school because he had said he knew Flintoff and wasn't believed, his hero turned up at the gates to pick him up.In an age when sportsmen are scrutinised and criticised for inappropriate behaviour, the nation warmed to the tales of his post-Ashes bender and the open-top bus ride, his shades hiding " a thousand stories". They laughed at the Fredalo incident in St Lucia, little more than a harmless jape in itself (he did not nearly drown and have to be rescued), but one which carried the can for the indiscretions of others. If the celebrations of his wickets became ever more theatrically choreographed (and he knows well enough the value of the publicity they generate) then he was irresistible. They admired his chivalry. Of all the images to come out of the 2005 series, it is that of Flintoff consoling Brett Lee at Edgbaston that is imprinted in the memory.How will he face the future? Time is on his hands now and the intensity of the rehab presumably will drop away. He is a social animal and will have to be careful. But he will be in great demand too, not as a TV pundit, of which there are plenty already and in which capacity he says he has no interest, but as a celebrity, a person of genuine charisma. Already Ladbrokes are offering odds on a pantomime appearance. There is no sportsperson around with whom corporate clients would rather spend a day or a dinner. He has his Andrew Flintoff Foundation to occupy him. He will not be kicking his heels.Andrew FlintoffEngland cricket teamCricketMike Selveyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Shotzoom launches Golfshot app for Android Shotzoom Software has released a version of its Golfshot mobile application for Android phones. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Jason Burke on the Delhi Games Games organisers forced to give away thousands of free tickets after 60% of available seats remain unsoldOrganisers of the troubled Delhi Commonwealth Games are to draft in thousands of schoolchildren and hand out free tickets to the poor to fill empty stadiums at events that paying spectators have shunned.At a chaotic press conference today, Suresh Kalmadi, the head of the Games organising committee, admitted that only 600,000 of the 1.5m available tickets for the 12 days of the event had been sold and that some venues had yet to be furnished with tickets.Many events took place today, the second day of the event, in front of only a few dozen spectators. Kalmadi, who was jeered at Sunday's spectacular opening ceremony, denied the scandals associated with the preparations for the Games had contributed to low attendances. Indian spectators are not used to paying to watch live sport and few workers receive time off. Competition from a thrilling cricket test match, which saw the national side beat Australia, is also likely to have contributed to the poor sales in recent days.Tickets for the events start from 50 rupees (70p), about half the daily wage of a labourer. "If it is a choice between paying to watch the first round of the lawn bowls or this kind of cricket for nothing, it's not a difficult choice," said Mohan Rao, a sweet shop owner in Friends Colony, south Delhi.Though the opening ceremony passed off well, widely praised by local and international media, a string of problems off-stage on Sunday night have now been revealed. Successive technical problems with the new line of the Delhi metro serving the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, where the ceremony took place, led to thousands of spectators arriving late or missing the event. The metro opened only hours before the ceremony, three months behind schedule. Poor co-ordination with police also meant dozens of foreign diplomats and their families were kept waiting for hours for transport to the venue.The massive security operation surrounding the Games, which has seen around 80,000 police and paramilitaries deployed in Delhi, has prompted complaints from athletes for causing delays in travelling to and from venues.Police said they had searched the athletes' village after receiving an anonymous bomb threat, but found nothing. Though most athletes and officials now say they are happy with their accommodation in the ÂŁ150m village, there are still concerns about hygiene.Michael Fennell, the president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, said he had requested an investigation into stomach complaints suffered yesterday by two Australian swimmers, including men's 400m freestyle silver medallist Ryan Napoleon. Several athletes are also reported to have complained about the smell from an open sewer over which the new dedicated expressway leading from south Delhi to the village has been built.Problems with the scales at the boxing weigh-in have now been fixed, officials said.Today India got its first gold medals when Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang won the men's 10m air rifle pairs. "It was always important for us to do well on home ground," Bindra said. "It gives us a good start, and hopefully we will have many more medals in the coming days."England won its first two golds in the swimming events today. Francesca Halsall beat world champion Marieke Guehrer of Australia in the women's 50mbutterfly, and world champion Liam Tancock won the men's 50m backstroke. Australia currently leads the medals table.Commonwealth Games 2010IndiaJason Burkeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Purdue senior Robbie Hummel out for season with torn ACL Hummel will miss the 2010-11 season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in practice Saturday, the school's athletic department ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Alex Smith out for 49ers, Troy Smith in vs Broncos By MATTIAS KAREN 2010-10-27T14:44:20ZLONDON (AP) -- With quarterback Alex Smith ruled out because of a separated shoulder, San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Singletary is gambling on Troy Smith being able to turn his struggling team around.... hosted.ap.org |