On-song Flintoff hungry for more

1 August 2008

Andrew Flintoff has AB de Villiers caught at fine leg

Andrew Flintoff has set his sights on reaching further milestones for England after passing the 200 Test wicket barrier with a stunning performance against South Africa yesterday.

The 30-year-old Lancashire all-rounder bowled England back into the third npower Test by claiming 2-15 in a six-over spell during the final session at Edgbaston to leave the tourists on 256 for six, leading by just 25 runs.

He had earlier trapped determined opener Neil McKenzie lbw to claim his 200th Test victim and become the 12th England bowler to achieve such a feat.

But after being sidelined for the last 18 months while he recovered from a fourth ankle operation, Flintoff is determined to pass more landmarks before his international career comes to an end.

Flintoff, who is playing his 68th Test for England and has also played one for the Rest of the World, said: “At this time statistics don’t mean that much to me. Maybe when I’m older I’ll sit down and look at them.

“But I want to take a lot more (wickets) than that for the team and I want to perform better than I have before, and I want to keep improving.”

Flintoff’s performance was capped by a compelling duel with Jacques Kallis, who had his off stump removed for 64 after the England all-rounder’s temper was raised by umpire Aleem Dar’s rejection of an lbw appeal when he was on 55.

It sparked a stunning response from Flintoff, reminiscent of his brilliant over to Ricky Ponting in the 2005 Ashes Test at the same ground.

Flintoff removes Kallis' off stump with a superb away-swinging yorker at Edgbaston yesterday

Buy this photo

“It means a lot to us getting back into the series and doing well for England and I think we showed that. Having not scored enough runs in the first place, to get back into this position we’ve fought hard,” he added.

Kallis ended the day disappointed at his dismissal, but he believes another 75 runs from the tourists this morning will put them back in the box seat.

Kallis said: “He bowled a fantastic spell and brought England back into the game. There is a little bit in that wicket still and he hit the right area more often than not and made life tough for our batters.

“With the amount of movement still left in the wicket it does make life tough for the batters, so in the context of the game if we can get 100 runs ahead our bowlers can get the ball down like Fred did.”