{"id":290531,"date":"2023-09-13T12:20:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T12:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=290531"},"modified":"2023-09-13T12:20:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T12:20:56","slug":"freddie-flintoff-shares-a-laugh-with-englands-cricketers-ahead-of-odi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/%d1%81ricket\/freddie-flintoff-shares-a-laugh-with-englands-cricketers-ahead-of-odi\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddie Flintoff shares a laugh with England&apos;s cricketers ahead of ODI"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Freddie Flintoff shares a laugh with England&#8217;s cricketers as facial injuries from his Top Gear crash continue to heal while he works with the team for their ODI match against New Zealand<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The former star all-rounder cut a relaxed figure at The Oval on Wednesday<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Flintoff has returned to cricket after his horror crash on Top Gear\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The 45-year-old cheated death after a horrendous crash in December last year\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Freddie Flintoff was all smiles as he oversaw a warm-up session ahead of England&#8217;s third ODI against New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>Flintoff was spotted<span>\u00a0<\/span>in public for the first time<span> last week following <\/span>a near-fatal car crash<span> while filming the <\/span>BBC<span>\u2019s <\/span>Top Gear<span>\u00a0show in December 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Flintoff\u00a0made his first appearance since the accident this week as he returned to working with the England cricket team\u00a0with cuts noticeable on his nose and mouth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The 45-year-old joined\u00a0Jos Buttler\u2019s side as a consultant during their one-day series against New Zealand and was pictured on the field at The Oval as England players went through their warm-up routine on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The former all-rounder, who\u00a0played the last of his 79 Tests in 2009, was on the pitch talking to some of the players and former Sky commentator Kumar Sangakkara.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/12\/75379449-12513241-image-a-6_1694604825743.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Freddie Flintoff oversaw a warm-up session ahead of England&#8217;s third ODI against New Zealand<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/12\/75379453-12513241-image-a-8_1694604840534.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The 45-year-old cut a relaxed figure as he chatted to the players at The Oval\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wearing a baseball mitt to act as a makeshift wicketkeeper, Flintoff cut a relaxed figure as he chatted with the players ahead of the third of four ODI against the Kiwis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One of the great all-rounders of the English game and the hero of the 2005 Ashes triumph, Flintoff played 141 ODIs before retiring after England won the urn in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s important for him, and it\u2019s great for the lads to have him around,\u2019 Paul Collingwood, England\u2019s assistant Test coach, said on Tuesday<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The knowledge he\u2019s got playing the game and pressure situations \u2013 he pretty much encapsulated how this white-ball team goes about their cricket. It\u2019s all about putting the opposition under pressure, which is exactly what he did.<\/p>\n<p>Flintoff suffered a near-fatal car crash last December\u00a0<span>while shooting an episode of\u00a0<\/span>BBC<span>\u00a0motoring series Top Gear at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He was left with severe facial wounds and several broken ribs after his three-wheeled open-top car, which did not have air bags, flipped while filming the hit BBC motoring show on December 13.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Flintoff then had to wait an &#8216;agonising&#8217; 45 minutes for an air ambulance &#8211; with the BBC later giving him an apology.<\/p>\n<p>The father-of-four &#8211; who also narrowly cheated death following a 125mph crash in 2019 &#8211; quit his Top Gear job after the accident and the BBC cancelled the latest series of the show \u2013 with its future remaining in doubt.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Several members of staff who witnessed the accident signed off sick indefinitely as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n<p>The BBC said it would <span>continue to support Flintoff &#8216;with his recovery&#8217;, adding<\/span>: &#8216;Under the circumstances, we feel it would be inappropriate to resume making series 34 of Top Gear at this time.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/12\/75379467-12513241-image-a-10_1694604859364.jpg\" height=\"427\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Flintoff was spotted chatting to former Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/12\/75379455-12513241-image-a-7_1694604831827.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The legendary all-rounder has returned to cricket after miraculously surviving an horrendous crash while filming the TV series Top Gear in December last year<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/12\/75379451-12513241-image-a-9_1694604842709.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The serious facial injuries Flintoff suffered in the crash are still very visible on his face<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We understand this will be disappointing for fans, but it is the right thing to do, and we&#8217;ll make a judgment about how best to continue later this year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;This has also impacted the production team, who we continue to support.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Finally there will be a health and safety review of the show, in line with our procedures.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The latest news around his recovery comes after his ex-England team-mate Steve Harmison revealed he had seen him just six weeks ago when\u00a0Flintoff was still covering up his face due to the severity of the injuries.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/12\/75295653-12513241-Flintoff_was_seen_for_the_first_time_since_the_crash_last_week_w-a-18_1694605474775.jpg\" height=\"402\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Flintoff was seen for the first time since the crash last week when he returned to working with the England cricket team at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/12\/67017597-12513241-Flintoff_s_family_pictured_with_his_wife_Rachael_and_three_of_th-a-17_1694605468393.jpg\" height=\"503\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Flintoff&#8217;s family (pictured with his wife Rachael and three of their four children) reportedly begged him to stay away from the set while he was recovering from his injuries\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It was great to see him back,&#8217; he said on talkSPORT.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He was on great form, but to see him around the England group, the main team, was fantastic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This England team are a good bunch and not only are they great cricketers, but they&#8217;re great ambassadors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Freddie was always brilliant in the dressing room and so to have Andrew in the dressing room with them and feeling comfortable and letting him get his feet under the table because they&#8217;ll be in for a show.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/cricket\/article-12513241\/Freddie-Flintoff-ODI-England-Gear-crash-BBC.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Freddie Flintoff shares a laugh with England&#8217;s cricketers as facial injuries from his Top Gear crash continue to heal while he works with the team for their ODI match against New Zealand The former star all-rounder cut a relaxed figure at The Oval on Wednesday Flintoff has returned to cricket after his horror crash on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Freddie Flintoff shares a laugh with England&amp;apos;s cricketers ahead of ODI - Tell My Sport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/\u0441ricket\/freddie-flintoff-shares-a-laugh-with-englands-cricketers-ahead-of-odi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freddie Flintoff shares a laugh with England&amp;apos;s cricketers ahead of ODI - Tell My Sport\" \/>\n<meta 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