Omission stunned Freddie: agent

Flintoff’s agent Andrew Chandler said the all-rounder has never been as low as he is right now. Chandler said Flintoff was stunned when told that the England team didn’t want to gamble on him in the match which the hosts lost.

“I’ve seen a few disappointed sportsmen over the last couple of months but I’ve never seen anybody as low as Flintoff was on Thursday night when he was told he would not be selected,” Chandler said.

“He told them that he was fit enough to get through, that he felt no different to how he felt at Edgbaston and that he could get through and do his bit. They didn’t want him,” he added. “He (Flintoff) just didn’t see it coming. He wanted to play and they didn’t want him, and he didn’t see that coming at all.”

“He was prepared to do whatever it takes, was prepared to put whatever needed to be put into his knee. The whole point of announcing his retirement when he did was to clear his head and prepare to do whatever needed to be done to play the final Test matches of his career,” Chandler said. Chandler rejected suggestions that Flintoff had aggravated his knee injury during the drawn third Test in Edgbaston and said the laxity in his body language was wrongly perceived as an injury problem. “What they didn’t take into account during Thursday’s practice was that there was no adrenalin. That was why he looked as though he was struggling so much and why he became so much worse on the final day at Edgbaston, when it was clear the game could not be won,” he said.

“He was hurting at Lord’s but the adrenalin got him through. It would have got him through this week as well. His presence would certainly have lifted the crowd and the team, because without him they don’t have much inspiration,” he added.