page_title: Andrew Flintoff
section_title: 2007–09: Injuries, comeback, and retirement
hierarchical_section_title: Andrew Flintoff / Professional career / 2007–09: Injuries, comeback, and retirement
caption_attribution_description: English: The Oval - Flintoff's final Test match
context_page_description: Andrew Flintoff MBE, also known as Freddie Flintoff, is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer.
  Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all rounders, a fast bowler, middle order batsman and slip fielder. He was consistently rated by the ICC as being among the top international all-rounders in both ODI and Test cricket.
  Following his debut in 1998, he became an integral player for England, and was "Man of the Series" in the 2005 Ashes. He later served as both captain and vice-captain of the team.
  He retired from Test cricket at the end of the 2009 Ashes series, and from other forms of the game in 2010. He then had one professional boxing fight on 30 November 2012 in Manchester, beating American Richard Dawson on a points decision.
  In 2014, Flintoff came out of retirement to play Twenty20 cricket for Lancashire, before being signed by Brisbane Heat to play in the Australian Big Bash League for the 2014–15 season.
context_section_description: Flintoff returned for a couple of games with Lancashire, in preparation for the West Indies tour of England but he re-injured his ankle and was ruled out for the first Test which started on 17 May 2007. Having undergone another operation on the troublesome ankle, he missed the whole Test and one-day series against the West Indies, and was also ruled out for the subsequent Test series with India.  Following several games for Lancashire, Flintoff returned for England in the first of seven ODIs against India on 21 August 2007. He bowled seven overs and ended with figures of one for twelve in England's 104-run victory. He hit an eventful nine runs during the second ODI; however, while fielding, he injured his knee and sat out England's 42-run victory in the third ODI.  He returned for the fourth ODI on 30 August.  Flintoff missed England's two narrow defeats to India in the fifth and sixth ODIs before taking 3–45 in the seventh, helping England to win the series four-three with a seven-wicket victory.
  Flintoff's ankle injury recurred during the end of the 2007 season, and, although he played in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, he did not accompany the England squad to Sri Lanka, and a fourth operation made it highly unlikely that he would play again before the summer of 2008, missing both the Sri Lankan Test Series and the 2008 tour of New Zealand.  Flintoff remained "upbeat" about his career, however.
  Flintoff was back in action for Lancashire early in the 2008 season, but a side strain ruled him out of contention for the home series against New Zealand. After again returning to action in county cricket he was recalled to the England squad for the second Test against South Africa, where he missed the last 17 Tests prior. He took his 200th Test wicket in the Third Test, trapping Neil McKenzie lbw for 72. Flintoff bowled consistently against the South Africans, but South African coach Mickey Arthur felt that he was too defensive.  His batting also began to show promise as he consistently made starts, before being moved back up to bat at six when Kevin Pietersen took over as captain. In the following one day series, Flintoff was an important player for England, leading Pietersen to describe him as "a superstar". Flintoff scored 78 in both the first and the third matches – he was not required to bat in the second – as well as 31 not out off 12 balls in the fourth, whilst taking three wickets in the same match. This led many pundits to speculate that Flintoff might just be back to his best. He won Man of the Series in the ODI home series against South Africa, where England won four-nil: the last match was washed out. He was both the top run-scorer and the top wicket-taker of that series. Still, though, his want of consistency frustrated the pundits. "Flintoff," wrote Peter Roebuck some time later, "is a fine cricketer who has never quite worked out how he takes wickets or scores runs. Torn between hitting and playing, pounding and probing, he has performed below his highest capabilities."
  On England's tour of India, Flintoff started the series well. In the first warm-up match against the Mumbai Cricket Association, he scored exactly 100. It was his first century for England since the Fourth Test of the 2005 Ashes.  His batting did not follow with similar successes in India and the West Indies, but his bowling remained strong, with a dozen wickets in the Caribbean at under 30 apiece, followed by a hat-trick in the final ODI series, becoming only the third English bowler ever to do so.
  In February 2009, the Chennai Super Kings of the Indian Premier League bought Flintoff for US$1,550,000 – $600,000 above his base price of $950,000. This makes him the highest-ever-paid IPL player, alongside compatriot Kevin Pietersen, and surpasses Mahendra Singh Dhoni's $1,500,000. But Flintoff did not find success at the tournament, held in South Africa due to General Elections, as after a difficult first few matches he was sent home for surgery following another knee injury.
  However, speculation over Flintoff's form ahead of the much-awaited 2009 As
caption: The screen display at The Oval as Flintoff comes to the wicket for his penultimate Test innings
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