Top 10 Times Freddie Flintoff Was a Legend

#10: Speaking About the Fredalo Incident

Throughout his time playing for England, Freddie earned a reputation as a hard drinker, further cemented by this moment at the 2007 Cricket World Cup. After a brutal loss against New Zealand in the very first match, Flintoff got smashed, then had a scuffle with a pedalo. According to Flintoff years later, he didn’t fall off the pedalo like the press claimed, but actually fell while trying to get into it in the first place in an attempt to visit Ian Botham, drinking on a nearby boat. Flintoff was seriously reprimanded by Duncan Fletcher, but used the incident as an opportunity to improve his relationship with alcohol and later speak out about alcohol dependence, particularly for young men struggling with their mental health.

#9: Cricket vs Formula 1

This time, Freddie was enlisted to help two F1 drivers – Thailand’s Alex Albon and Spain’s Carlos Sainz – learn the ins and outs of cricket. Albon, being born and raised in the UK, is already at an advantage over Sainz, since Spain absolutely isn’t a cricketing nation. Like many, they were baffled by the amount of downtime in cricket, with days-long matches full of waiting around, and the elaborate uniforms. Like you’d expect from racing drivers, the day devolved into a one-on-one competition, with Sainz and Albon desperate to hit each other with the fastest balls possible. But at the end of the day, it was Freddie’s coaching talents that were the real star.

#8: Skittles Vodka

During an episode of “A League of Their Own”, footballer Jamie Vardy reveals that one of his go-to drinks is “Skittles vodka”, which he makes by, you guessed it, mixing Skittles and vodka. But not wanting the non-drinkers on the panel – including Freddie at this point – to be left out, Romesh Ranganathan made them some Skittles mixed with gravy to try instead. He challenged Freddie and Chelcee Grimes to down their pints of Skittles and gravy for an extra point. Chelcee nearly threw up, as most people probably would, but Freddie finished and went back for more, chewing a mouthful of Skittles as a chaser. Would YOU have taken on this challenge?

#7: Ghost Stories

In 2015, Freddie came out of retirement to play Down Under in the Big Bash League, and came on “Jonathan Ross” to talk about his experience, which was his final tenure playing cricket professionally. After reminiscing about this and his Ashes success, though, Jonathan Ross persuaded him to tell some ghost stories, revealing to the public that he has a fear of the dark. He tells this story about spooning with fellow cricketer Rob Key because he was too afraid to sleep on his own after being told the spooky tale. This led to him sleeping in the next day, turning up late, and getting fined £2000.

#6: World Records for Sport Relief

In 2012, Freddie was on a mission to set more than dozen world records in only twelve hours as part of a record-breaking charity challenge. They were all relatively easy, involving drinking hot chocolate and getting Facebook likes, but one of them was more notable than all the others: the fastest 100 metres in a pedalo. Yes, five years on from the 2007 incident and he was back in the pedalo to break a world record. He ended up smashing fourteen of them and more than earning his place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Not bad, considering he was originally only aiming for twelve of them.

#5: 2009 Ashes at Lord’s

This ended up being Flintoff’s last performance for England. Despite being plagued by injuries, including requiring surgery on one of his ankles, Flintoff was in the line-up for the 2009 Ashes. While his ability to bowl was looking more reliable than his ability to run, he made history by running out Ricky Ponting, Australia’s captain. Everybody was sure that, with his ongoing health woes, Freddie wouldn’t be able to do it, only for him to yet again prove them all wrong. He later recalled knowing that these Tests were going to be the last ones he’d play for England and wanting, one last time, to feel the adulation of cricket fans around the world.

#4: Coaching Sean

Coming from a working class background himself, Freddie in 2022 began a project to create a youth team from kids who were struggling and would benefit from having sport as an outlet. He went back to Lancashire and launched “Field of Dreams”, taking a group of boys under his wing. Sean was acting out at school and not taking cricket seriously until Freddie intervened. Putting Sean in charge turns out to be the best thing for him, and he thrives in a leadership role during their training and team building exercises. Freddie even goes to his house to chat to his dad about how best to help him.

#3: Opening Up About Bulimia

At the height of his athletic career, the tabloids latched onto Freddie’s unhealthy lifestyle, with his love of lager and takeaways, and started reporting relentlessly on the weight he’d put on. The papers got to him, and he started making himself throw up his food if he thought he’d eaten something too unhealthy. He first opened up about this publicly on “Piers Morgan’s Life Stories”, and the following year fronted an entire documentary about his struggles with ED, trying to destigmatise these conditions, particularly for men, who find it even harder to seek help. Speaking out about difficult issues like this is one of the many reasons he’s so beloved.

#2: The 2005 Ashes

Dubbed by longtime friend of Flintoff, James Corden, as “the summer we all pretended to love cricket”, the 2005 Ashes Series was one of the most iconic moments in the history of the sport – particularly for Freddie. After years of graft, he became England’s star player, breaking a world record to get nine sixes in total in the Second Test. Cricket mania swept the country, largely thanks to Freddie’s star power and extraordinary performance. But fans will remember one moment perhaps more than any of the runs: when, upon winning, Flintoff went to comfort Australia’s Brett Lee, pausing his celebrations. He ended up being named Sports Personality of the Year, winning the Ashes for England and breaking Australia’s winning streak.

#1: Talking About the Crash

Following his horror “Top Gear” crash in 2022, Freddie withdrew from the public eye to recover from serious facial injuries. In 2025, a documentary was released following his long, arduous recovery, showing the extent of his injuries and explaining exactly what happened for the first time. Yet again, he spoke candidly about his mental health and the toll the accident took on his wife and children. After all that, though, the main thing that helped him through his recovery – after years spent in retirement working on his media career – was cricket. As we saw in “Field of Dreams”, he came back to cricket to coach the next generation of players.

Let us know in the comments what your favourite Freddie Flintoff moment is.