That is all Freddie bowled, but in doing so he has rejuvenated the souls of millions of English cricket fans.
Not all of them, some think he is an over idolized drunkard who doesn’t help the team much.
They could be right, but who wants to watch the English team without him.
The Ashes will not be as cool without him.
As an Australian I am supposed to be afraid of him, but those days are past him.
Now he is just a big loveable entertaining teddy bear.
And the Ashes need that.
He might still cameo, but I doubt he will rip the hearts out of the Australian team like the legendary performances of yore.
So those 12 overs prove he is fit, well fit enough.
The only question is whether he can stay fit for long enough to play in the ashes, we still have 4 weeks to kill before the series begins.
It is a big question.
It only gets tougher once they start.
The Ashes are 5 tests in 7 weeks. That is hardcore.
Not a lot of physio or pub time.
This does spell the end, at least in the short term, of Tim Bresnan, which is a tragedy.
Not because he is a superstar in the making, but few bowlers in this day and age bowl with an untucked shirt that shows the small of their back as the deliver the ball like big Tim does.
Flintoff handles his drink better than Andrew Symonds. I’d like to see a Fred v Roy drink-off to decide the Ashes, that would be entertaining.
The Village Cricketer’s last blog post..T20 let down
TVC, not sure he handles the drink any better than Roy, but his missus keeps him on a short leash, Roy’s missus is no longer in the picture.
Jrod, NWG is eternally grateful that Freddy has remembered how to run. That’s how low her expectations are. Practically zero.
You could stage it with them both out fishing on pedalos. That’d be interesting.