Andrew Flintoff is one of the best all-rounders that world cricket has ever seen and definitely the best all-rounder for England after Sir Ian Botham. Not many players are influential for their team in multiple formats but Flintoff was crucial for England in both formats. He played a key role in the resurrection of England in test cricket, especially in Ashes cricket. In this article, we will take a look at Andrew Flintoff’s top 3 performances in test cricket.
1. 167 vs West Indies, 2004
This big century is Andrew Flintoff’s best performance with the bat in test cricket. He made this brilliant century in the second match of the test series against West Indies at Birmingham. He played this knock in the first innings of the match and helped England put 566 runs on the board. This tremendous effort with the bat had given England an edge in the contest which they built upon and won the match in the end by a huge margin of 256 runs.
Also read: Ranking Shikhar Dhawan’s 3 best Test performances
2. 5/58 vs West Indies, 2004
In the next match of the series Andrew Flintoff came up with his best bowling performance of his test career. After winning the toss England elected to field first. Andrew Flintoff took advantage of typical first-day English conditions and wreaked havoc on the West Indian batting order. His wickets included the likes of Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul which was a huge blow to West Indies in the first innings. Courtesy of Flintoff’s exceptional spell England bowled the West Indies out for 224 runs.
3. 5/78 vs Australia, 2005
Another 5-wicket haul from Andrew Flintoff but this one is more special than the previous one as it came against Australia in the epic 2005 Ashes series. He bowled this spell in the last match of the test series at the Oval. England batted first in the match and scored 373 runs in the first innings. Andrew Flintoff was crucial for England with the ball when they had to prevent Australia from taking a lead. Flintoff’s 5-wicket haul made it tough for Australia to take the lead and England bowled Australia out for 367 runs.