Flintoff on boozy night with Oasis & Kasabian that marked end of England career

Former England cricketer Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff enjoyed a boozy night out with Oasis and Kasabian the day before he was told that he would have to retire following the 2009 Ashes series

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Andrew Flintoff: Cricket is becoming ‘rock and roll’

England legend Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff was plagued by injury throughout his career and ultimately forced to retire from international cricket in 2009 at the age of just 31.

Flintoff had been struggling with a whole host of injury problems, having had four ankle operations and a recurrence of a knee issue.

The all-rounder delayed having another operation in order to feature in the 2009 Ashes series against Australia and he played as England regained the Ashes.

After England escaped with a draw at the first Test in Cardiff thanks to a heroic last-wicket partnership between James Anderson and Monty Panesar, Flintoff travelled to London for an appointment with a doctor the following day.

The night before, Flintoff visited The Landmark hotel where he met the band Oasis and Kasabian stars Tom Meighan and Serge Pizzorno.

Recalling the night in his new book, serialised by the Sun, Flintoff said: “The night was certainly wild, like something you would imagine in the early Seventies with the Rolling Stones.

“Everyone was hammered, the staff were trying to calm it down, guests were complaining. Looking back, part of me was celebrating a great Test match and part wanted to forget about my knee and let off steam.”

Flintoff did not make it to bed until 6am the following morning and turned up hungover to his doctor’s appointment at 8am.

There he was told that his knee was in such bad shape that he needed to have another operation immediately and miss the rest of the series or risk doing potentially irreversible damage to the injury.

“I was hammered and my career was ending,” Flintoff added.

Despite the risks, Flintoff decided to continue playing in the Ashes and announced that he would be retiring from Test cricket at the end of the series ahead of the second Test at Lord’s.

During that game, Flintoff picked up just his third Test match five-fer to help England win the game by 115 runs and take the lead in the series.

He then followed it up with a swashbuckling 74 in the drawn Test at Edgbaston, before missing the fourth Test at Headingley.

Flintoff returned to the side for the final Test at the Oval and produced a stunning piece of fielding to run out Australia captain Ricky Ponting, turning the game on its and ensuring England won both the game and the series to regain the Ashes.