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Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff has reflected on how he believes the cricketing instincts that made him one of the finest players in the world also helped save his life.
The former England captain cheated death in a catastrophic accident while filming for the hit TV show Top Gear in 2022.
In an extract from his new book, Coming Home: The moments that Made Me, the great all-rounder says he leaned on the decision-making that served him well facing some of the world's fastest bowlers when his flipped over at a terrifying speed at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey.
'The same split-second decision making came into play during the crash I went through while filming an episode of Top Gear in 2022,' he tells the Sunday Times.
'Suddenly the car was rolling and the world was all slow-motion chaos. I knew, somehow, exactly what was coming. I knew the options: If I stuck my arm out, I’d lose it. If I didn’t brace, I’d snap my neck. So I made the call. I shut my eyes and flung up my left arm, with the thinking being that as a right-hander, I was prepared to lose my left.
'The car dragged me underneath for 50 metres, face skidding, body flipping. Minus two degrees, busted face, but alive — because in that instant, my mind, honed on cricket’s demands, made the right call. A split-second decision. One that saved my life, and changed it.'
England cricket legend Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff has reflected on how he believes the cricketing instincts that made him one of the finest players in the world also helped save his life
Flintoff played an integral role in England's historic Ashes series against Australia in 2005
'Half my face is different now. But I’m not dead. I’m still here. Still standing': The ex-England star went through major facial surgery after the crash - but owes his life to his cricket instincts
Flintoff goes on to say that getting back involved in the game he loves 'helped to bring me back'. He talks about his involvement in the programme Field of dreams, where he takes cricket into less privileged parts of the UK and beyond.
Filming was curtailed after the accident, and Flintoff adds: 'My first time back on camera after the accident was January 2024 in Preston. Me telling the lads we were going to India again. I didn’t think they’d expected me to turn up — part of me didn’t expect it either — but I did.
'And the reaction... well, they were just lads. Brilliant in their own way. Some were clearly relieved I’d made it. Others didn’t quite know what to say. But there was a warmth there, that unspoken thing you get when people have been through something together.
'There was one day in particular (in India) — we visited this orphanage. Kids from the slums, some born on the street, no parents, just survival from day one. They’d been given a chance — a proper education, a safe place — and you could see it in their eyes, the way they held themselves. They knew what it meant. They weren’t wasting a second. That hit me hard. Hit all of us, really.
'Because the lads I brought out — they’d had their struggles, yeah. But they’d also had chances. People who cared. Systems, however flawed. Seeing those kids in the orphanage, it was like a jolt. A reminder. If you get an opportunity, grab it with both hands. And the lads took that on. You could see it shift something in them.
'And for me? It was the same. I’d been through something, no doubt. Half my face is different now. But I’m not dead. I’m still here. Still standing.'
