Being Freddie

Maths is such a bore. Moreover its so impractical. I learned nothing more than a word "derived" from the books running multiple hundred pages on topic called "derivation" and the "integration" that i learned and the "integration" that I do everyday are poles apart from being "same". Stats is another of math's "subsets" and it inherits all the bad properties of maths. Its unreasonably lengthy, inappropriately inhuman and at the end of the day its just being another number which can only state "couple"of things about the past but nothing at all about the future. In the world where no two people are equal i wonder how the same maths is applicable to all. When the same medicine cannot cure same decease of every person, how can the same stat give equal analysis of the different people playing the same game.

If you don't believe me go through the stats of Freddie Flintoff. If you are to go by numbers he didn't do anything that would make him one of the most admired, loved and respected cricketer in the world. Because what stats say is that in tests, he scored runs at 31 with 5 centuries and took more than 200 wickets at an average of 32 with 3 five wicket hauls. If i was going through only stats i am sure i wont have even wanted to search about this player more. Coz in an era where great all rounders bat at an average of more than fourty with 15+ centuries and take more than 200 wickets mostly at around 25-28 he is far far behind most of them.

And that's why stats suck. I believe there is a world of difference between scoring runs on the ground or taking wickets and writing it down in record book. A difference that i believe is same as the difference between being human and robot. Stats will tell you he took 3-25 in a match and am sure everyday around the world some bowler gets approx same figures and has its entry. What stats will never tell you is that he took those wickets within a span of 4 overs, bowled some breathtaking stuff that even shook the best batsman in the world and in turn got the wickets which turned the match on its head. It neither tells you that a fast bowler ripped apart a top class batting line up on a flat dead pitch nor does it tell you that he bowled his heart out in the scotching heat of 40 degrees when other bowlers were even struggling to complete their run ups. It will tell you batsman scored 29 runs but it will never tell you that they were scored in the last hour of the game when team was fighting to draw the match or it will not tell you that he scored those runs opening the batting on a green track and he played out first two sessions of the match till the pitch could dry up and ease out for batting.

That's why i believe Freddie should be measured on his "impact" than on stats. For somebody who broke onto national scene as a promising batting all rounder, he later turned out to be more of a bowling all rounder. He was one the safest fielders in slip cordon for Englant. When he played whether batting or bowling he wore his heart on his sleeves. He held nothing back and played the game at its competitive best.

When he bowled, he always bowled in the awkward in between length, got the bowl to bounce more than others because of the extra power he generated through his strong physic and good height. Got the ball the swing both ways from a same length and got it to reverse with same ease. When he bowled he always bowled it very tight and gave nothing away. He did put the batsman under such pressure that they would more often than not try to break free at the other end and would eventually end up gifting wickets. Those were as much flintoffs wickets as of anybody else. Unfortunately stats had them going only for the "other bowler". I remember watching that famous 2005 ashes series and i found it amazing that he consistently troubled the best batsman like Gilly and Punter and had them as his bunnies. I cant remember any bowler in the world who could put a claim to having both of them as bunnies together. That was the only series during which Gilly looked human and Australians looked beatable in more than a decade (Yes India beat them once but then Aussies never looked a vulnerable side that they looked during 2005 Ashes). Such was his impact on the same and such was the level of threat he possessd inthe mind of opponents.

When he batted he did it with an attitude of not caring about the world. He didn't believe in getting set, having a look at the wicket and the other traditional crap that is taught in cricketing schools. He liked to play his shots and played it at any time he thought he could play it. 31- his average in tests is so only because it took him time to realise that his wicket is more precious to be thrown away in cheap/high risk shots. He has scored 5 centuries and most of them are scored during very critical times during a series. They are all probably the series turning centuries and should weigh twice as much but again record books are no neural networks to weigh input and then produce output.

He was an inspirational test cricketer who did literal heroics on the field. He inspired a lot of people outside and within the team . He was a crowd favourite, he was the one for whom people paid their money. And yet he was not crowd-pleaser. In his mature years as player, he did a lot of acts after getting wicket or scoring important runs that could grace any acting stage but until he got there, he used his skill , his genius cricketing brain and his incredible ability to do what he had thought of doing to achieve all that. At times you felt like he was a master craftsman slowly going through his routines and yet making a near perfect craft. The way he did set up batsman before he got their wickets was sheer fun to watch. He was like that break dancer who did set the stage of fire with his near impossible moves and yet he did them so effortlessly that you could do nothing but watch and applaud it. He was an mount Everest of confidence and conquering it hasn't been a cup of tea for most of the people. And the most lovable thing about him was that although he did put everything in the game, he never played the game too intensely. He always wore a smile on a face, even when catches were dropped his bowling or people were throwing some unplayable stuff at him. I remember one time when he was comprehensively beaten for about 2-3 overs by a good bowler and after every good delivery he used to smile and go back to his batting routine as if nothing happened. In that sense he was more like a sehwag who is rarely rattled when faced with any top class bowling for any amount of time.

For someone who was born with a sore back and fragile knee, for someone who has had multiple operations on both knees and long layoffs from the game, for someone who made a comeback almost every year, what he has done on the field only becomes more admirable. He was undoubtably the best player in the world for almost 3 years between 2004-2006. He surely was the only inspiration that English cricket had to offer after Sir Ian Botham and more than anything else he was someone who made you fall in love with this beautiful game and its evergreen longest version.He gave test cricket some unforgettable memories and much needed revival. And for that and much more he should always be treated as one of the game's great. I know that Being Freddie hasnt been easy but watching Freddie has been an experience of a lifetime.

And as of numbers, i know i am 4 days late in writing a blog which would have looked most appropriate on Sunday but for me its just another number and i for sure don't care a damn about it....

(Disclaimer: I know there is a lot of past tense in the write up but its only because i am intending to put him as former test player and not considering the fact the he will still be playing one day and 20-20 cricket)