Andrew Flintoff Batting Masterclass! 🏏

[Music] so before freddie was a big and tall model he was actually a very very good cricketer one of england's best oh big and tall models jacomo and all that anyway first of all bumble said something to you about when you walk out about what did he say bumble was my first coach at lancashire and he said when you go out to bat he said so many people put the helmet on in the dressing room and walk out bumble was all about body language it was all about walking out as if you were on the ground so he said have your helmet in your hand yeah look at all the opposition as you go out to back look him in the eye walk out as if you own the place let him have a look at you said and i did it every time i batted without phil and did you own a plate did you feel like that or you know once or twice really i was always nervous i was i used to sit in the dressing room and i didn't have any rituals i wasn't superstitious but i always put my kit on in the same way i think because it was the easiest and then as i walked out to bat you know the one thing i miss now not playing is nerves really i used to walk out there nervous the closer i got the more it kicked in and it made you feel alive when you were stood at the end and you take guard and you look up and someone's about to run into the ball now i miss that i miss that so much i really do what about fast bowling were you nervous were you scared ever i'll be honest with you i don't think any batsman wasn't scared of fastballing yeah people can play it better but there is that element of danger they're coming in they're trying to hit you and especially me i'd go into bat i was known as a front foot player so i've tried to climb on that front foot so ballers they always put a man back on the hook no matter how fast they were and they'd come for my head which in some ways i was quite happy with even though i didn't particularly like it i thought i could play it but then they fathomed that later on in my career if you just put it outside off stomp i'll just pass it to slip well let's get in your stance let's have a look so what would a for you what were the things you had to get right in your stance well through my career i tinkered with my stance when i first started i was always wide i was always more than shoulder-width apart yeah but i started in the early days we were back behind yeah but i felt that got me too low and being tall my head used to get outside my toes that was one thing a checkpoint for me one of the few that my head and my eyes stay inside the level of my toes so i'm not falling over i found if i was falling over i'd cut myself off yeah i was prone to lb so i had a time of putting my back on my foot yeah which i didn't particularly like so then i went in between and that just kept me inside i was trying to lean forward as opposed to going that way and then i was i tapped me back down i didn't have me about up waiting i just have it down try and be as relaxed and as comfortable as i could in my stance why would you tap it then just because of the height thing why couldn't you stand with it up there as a tall man i remember graeme gooch when i was on an england day tour he got me in the nets and he said this is how you stand you've got to put your bet up here i'm saying graeme it doesn't work for me he gave me this three pound two bar he's going have your bets up here and give me this with your head i'm saying graham no i'm happy down here i want to be comfortable i want to be relaxed and i want to pick my bat up all in one motion i want to come up and i want it to come down i felt a bit robotic yeah if i was standing like that okay and then when the ball is just about to deliver the ball what are you thinking at that point i stand here my game was built and around trying to attack yeah and it was all a state of mind if i went out to bat and i wasn't confident i wasn't feeling good i'd look around the field and all i'd see were fielders and i think where am i going to score a room from here when i was on it i'd just be thinking about the shots i wanted to play right i wouldn't even see a field i'd just see the gaps i see extra cover i want to get one through extra cover i love that shot extra cover drive yeah i want to play a pool shot early doors but my game was based around i wanted to score a boundary as quickly as as possible that just settled me down that got me into the floor i wanted to imp impose myself on the board so whoever you were playing against whatever the surface you wanted to go you wanted to get a boundary earlier and you'd almost look for it which i look for i'd even and i found that the first few balls of my unions were always the toughest yeah i got a lot of ducks and i got out early quite a few times if i got in i wasn't too bad there was that initial boundary that settled me down yeah and i'd take a risk early on in my innings to try and get in uh and you were four three two one so you're always looking for that boundary right throughout your inning six four three two one i'm thinking if i can get one away usually what i'd want if i'm batting i'm stood here he's coming into the ball i didn't want it i've stumped just outside yeah i wanted a magical ball short then i could have a look at a few or get behind the couple yeah i want him to ball straight i felt my best shot early doors was streaming on straight ball ball at me nasa said to me actually in a net once in perth i was batting and i was searching outside of stump i was trying to hit it it's probably the best advice nasa ever gave me he said let them bowl to you they will come to you eventually and that was my strength yeah i remember you being such a powerful driver of the ball in particular what were the keys to driving the ball well for me it was all about head position yeah head position getting the head down the wicket as close to the ball as possible so you start with your head forward in your stance as you see a little bit yeah i try and get the weight just slightly forward i knew that i was struggling if i started going across yeah i wanted everything going going this way head over the ball nice smooth follow through come on let's go and hit a few yeah so i'll just give you some throw downs now like i'm trying to recreate a bowler obviously i can't bowl toffee as you know but i'll just try and hit a decent length and you can go from there yeah oh not bad you held the pose there why i always held the paws one for the crowd but two i wanted to show everyone that was confident i wanted to play a shot and i went to like i was in control every shot even from ball one just came across it a little bit so when you did that if you didn't quite get it right in a game would you then go into a replay and go through anything in your mind or forget it forget it just try and forget it put it out in my mind shots that's that's i would love to blow the early doors and one of the things i'm trying to do is if i went at the ball too hard i'd struggle i like to be punchy i don't want to i got the strength i got the size i've got a good bat so i try and punch it as opposed to never really a big follow through and what about your trigger mate you just have a little step back and across i'll be really honest with your keys here i'm not sure what my trigger is i never was i tried to stay still whippage i'm missing them all right yeah and what about looking for singles and stuff like that was that part of your game or not not really if i could get one into the offside early doors the one thing was keys i was a really nervous starter really nervous starter i needed that first run that first boundary to get away right let's go now there's not only were you a very good test batsman you're also a very good one-day batsman so let's go through you talk about power hitting and range hitting they do now you've got a few of them in you yeah again though the thing that's no different is when i struggled when i tried to overhit it i could clear the boundary through punching it and i was in far more control i'd be looking to hit it extra cover it's pretty much in the v so you're looking straight really straight all the time if it's short i'll try and just get one i'll have a pull shot oh that's not bad that's not bad at all out the middle no no but you don't look like you're trying to hit it particularly hard at all no i think when i started when i started to try and hit it too hard my head would come up i'd lose my shirt someone's hitting him in the net it was all based on control even in a test match i used to love biting with a tail you know when we're six seven wickets down i'll be back with harmy or matthew olgaard or someone my game seems to change rather than worrying about you know playing a nice shot or worrying about getting out all i was thinking is where i'm gonna hit it just felt in control oh that's not bad that wasn't there to hit at all no so that one was a bit shorter than you probably wanted but you still just managed to go through with it at some point it's just that punch it's not trying to overhit it trying to stay in control i don't have a massive back lift so if the length isn't quite there i feel i can adjust i'll try and go over extra i'll give you what you want a bit of width for that now make it well that's not a bad yorker yeah one more did you say this though as a player hey did you do now they do range hitting did you do any of this as a player yeah a little bit i used to spend a lot of time with a manager phil neal just having throwdowns in the middle though in the middle yeah but with the nets around but now if i'm trying to whip mid off i would change the shape of my body yeah i'd come down and close myself off a little bit point that shoulder towards and i can still come that way if i need to but i'm just thinking about extra cover i want to go scoreboard oh shot there's a softball as well but you've used your hands as well there well the thing is if you think about the field that they're going to set they're going to have two-man mid-orbit off usually the he's just in front of the square extra cover is a massive area so if you can open that and then the other way which i'll try and do now was rather than coming down the pitch i used to get deep in my crease yeah so to try on the ball full i can hit it straight i can sit mid-on i can't see extra cover let me give you one of these in and then we'll get do some bowling sure that's in the retirement flats

Channel: Sky Sports Cricket

Views: 249,169

Keywords: cricket, sky sports cricket, cricket highlights, sky cricket, cricket masterclass, andrew flintoff, andrew flintoff masterclass, freddie flintoff, freddie flintoff masterclass, cricket tutorial, freddie flintoff tutorial, freddie flintoff wicket, freddie flintoff masterclass bowling, freddie flintoff batting

Id: hDSjm1fH-kA

Length: 10min 42sec (642 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 08 2021