Freddie Flintoff says he has fallen in love with cricket for a second time – and that his other TV work will have to take a back seat because of it. Flintoff is working as the head coach of the England Lions after dipping his toe back into the sport via coaching with England’s white-ball teams and in the Hundred.
The 47-year-old has rediscovered cricket in the aftermath of his life-changing terrifying 130mph crash while filming for Top Gear in December 2022. Cricket allowed a scarred Flintoff to make a lowkey return to public life as a coach with England in September 2023 and he has gone from strength to strength since.
Although first known as a brilliant all-rounder with England, Flintoff became a household name thanks to a successful TV career which came after he was forced to retire from cricket. As well as presenting Top Gear for the BBC, he starred in Sky gameshow A League Of Their Own and made documentary series Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams.
And while he is currently promoting a Disney + documentary about his recovery from the crash, Flintoff is clear that cricket is his main focus. “I fell into the TV stuff and started making a career in that,” he told The Times. “I didn’t think I was very good at it but I kept getting asked back.
“Doing all these shows. I was thankful for it. I travelled a lot, met lots of people, went to places I didn’t know existed, but I still missed cricket. It’s what I enjoy and what I wanted to do.
“Whatever show I was doing there was never that same fulfilment of playing cricket. I never made relationships with people that I did playing cricket. You take some jobs for money, but it doesn’t necessarily make you happy.”
Flintoff’s route back into cricket came via his friend and former team-mate Rob Key, who is now England’s managing director of men’s cricket. At first Key provided a friendly face and a seat to watch England play that was away from the cameras, but he ended up opening the door to a new career for Flintoff.
“It’s always going to be there, but in a strange way, I’ve got an acceptance of it now,” Flintoff said of the crash. “I’m not fighting it. I still get flashbacks at night and anxiety and other stuff but I know it’s happening and I’m accepting of it. When I’m around cricket I don’t get it; I’ve found comfort in the dressing room again.
“It has made me appreciate the game and the people a hell of a lot and made me realise that this is the place where I want to be. This is the place I feel most comfortable and this is what I get the most pleasure from, get most excited about and I care about it.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still do the odd Bullseye now and again because I’ve got bills to pay, but it’s cricket first and everything else on my terms to fit around that.”
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