Michael Atherton has dismissed Andrew Flintoff’s claim to greatness as a player and also pooh-poohed his captaincy of the side in 2006 © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
London: Jun 21, 2012
Andrew Flintoff on Thursday hit back at his former England colleague, former captain and now Sky TV and Times journalist Michael Atherton.
“He’s a p***k,” said Flintoff. “He’s a f*****g p***k.” Why so? “He sits there making judgments about players that are much better than he ever was, believe me, he’s a p***k.
“How can he talk about a player like [current England opening batsman] Alastair Cook who is 10 times the player he ever was — he has a much bigger average and will go on and on. Atherton averaged in the 30s for England and yet he thinks he can judge others,” the former Englamd all-rounder was quoted saying by standard.co.uk.
As a journalist, Atherton has dismissed Flintoff’s claim to greatness as a player and also pooh-poohed his captaincy of the side in 2006.
In 2006 Atherton wrote in the Telegraph: “The only positive benefit of the injury to Flintoff may be the end of his immediate captaincy ambitions. I don’t subscribe to the view that England’s underperformance against Sri Lanka was entirely down to Flintoff’s captaincy but equally I have never subscribed to the view that he is the man for the job.”
