Freddie Flintoff has ‘sprinkled gold dust’ on England squad…coaching job should be full-time, claims No2 Trescothick
ANDREW FLINTOFF ends his time with England on Tuesday – and his old mate Marcus Trescothick wants him back in the dressing room soon.
Trescothick and Flintoff played 46 Test matches together and were key figures in England’s fabled Ashes triumph of 2005.
And Trescothick, now England’s assistant coach, says Flintoff is behaving like ‘Freddie’ again after almost three weeks with England.
He said: “I think he was a little nervous at first. He doesn’t know many of the people but he’s grown massively from when he first joined the squad.
“He’s back into the person you expect around cricket because that’s what I’ve seen for so many years. And it’s been great. He’s enjoyed himself and the players have loved having him around.
“Hopefully, we’ll see more of him in the future.
“A couple of times, he’s spoken in the changing room and it’s been like, ‘Wow’. The way he talks and delivers messages to players has been superb.
“To have him sprinkling a bit of gold dust around the team and having the younger players working with him has been invaluable, really. You can’t put a price on it.
“Seeing him grow back into Freddie and getting back into cricket has been great. This is where it all started for him and where he belongs.”
Encouraged by England supremo Rob Key, Flintoff’s spell as a part-coach/part-mentor have been his first public appearances since his near-fatal car crash while filming Top Gear last year.
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He worked with England in their four 50-over matches against New Zealand and was kept on for the three-match series against Ireland.
England play Ireland in Bristol on Tuesday and then the World Cup squad travel to India on Wednesday evening.
Flintoff will not be involved in the World Cup but could be part of the white-ball tour of the Caribbean in December.
After the first match at Headingley was washed out, England won the second game against Ireland by 48 runs at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
Somerset batsman Tom Kohler-Kadmore could be given an international debut.