Flintoff's destiny yet to be decided

Andrew Flintoff's performance at Lord's on Monday morning makes his imminent retirement all the more poignant. The Oval in August will certainly witness the end of an era: the Age of Flintoff, widely adored, insatiable holding ball and bottle alike, catalyst for a different kind of Test match atmosphere. Come September, for the first time in six years, England captains will have to look elsewhere in times of trouble.

But that is not all. It is, in fact, the end of two eras. Flintoff is also the final bridge to a by-gone age of English cricket. He made his Test debut in a 1998 series most notable for Hansie Cronje's, ahem, erratic captaincy. He was on the first ever central contract list. He roomed with Angus Fraser.

These are less facts than artefacts. Flintoff might as well have travelled on long boats with Arthur Shrewsbury for all those early days relate to the game he now dominates; a game where Flintoff can earn riches beyond Cronje's wildest dreams for six weeks' work.

It is salutary to recall the first sight of Flintoff at international level: a hard-hitting, big-boned batsman who bowled a bit of Ealhamesque medium pace when his back and stomach allowed. In 2001 a Lancashire colleague of his told me that, three years after his Test debut, there was no way Flintoff could make it as an international cricketer: "He doesn't want it. Or not as much as he wants a pie and a pint at any rate."

In four Tests this summer the Lancastrian is England's longest-serving player by five years. And when Jimmy Anderson made his bow in 2003, Michael Vaughan and the ECB were quite open that their new quick with go-faster hair suited their desired image: young, good-looking, exciting. Where Flintoff arrived as a pie-man, Anderson was a product.

It is unthinkable that a player of Flintoff's talent and personality might now graduate to the international scene without England knowing what they had. Yet it was undoubtedly the case in 1998. Just as Flintoff has seen two cricket worlds in his international career, so we have seen two Flintoffs.

The early years were dismal and, shot-through with cynicism by the on-going travails of Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash, it was difficult for English cricket to believe that a mentally-weak if obviously talented player could be a serious force.

There was much wailing and rending of garments when he was ruled out of the 2001 Ashes with injury. But has English cricket ever enjoyed a greater blessing? He had played nine Tests, averaging 16.64 with the bat and 55.00 with the ball. Time and again the 2005 Ashes win is explained by England's lack of fear and humiliation in sight of Baggy Green caps. Had Flintoff played four years earlier, he would have been carrying more Australian baggage than Quantas.

After a stint in Rod Marsh's academy, his graduation to the highest stage was announced in 2002 on a strange drop-in pitch at Christchurch. A doughty 137 in partnership with Graham Thorpe proved Test maturity with the bat. But it was at the 2003 World Cup that he revealed his true potential: fast, accurate and hostile, in a failing team he ended with the tournament's best economy rate, 2.87. (Pointless nostalgia quiz: who was the only other bowler at the tournament to go for under three an over? Unlike Flintoff he made the semi-finals. Answer bottom of the page).

Thereafter a new Flintoff came into focus. Still he was not without faults: a poor