Before this Ashes series I thought Freddie was only good for cameo performances, then he announced his retirement, and while I didn’t write it, I thought maybe he could do slightly more.
Today he did. Way more.
Australia would have won this test had Harmy, Bresnan or Ronnie Irani been playing.
He was the difference between the sides.
Watching him run in for over after over with a knee that seems to have no cartilage left in it was herculean enough, but then to take the three most important wickets in this innings, and crush the tail was a super human effort.
His spell just seemed obscenely long. After every over I said he must be taken off.
He never was.
You couldn’t really take him off, he was presence.
His knee must now be ratshit, but who cares, he wasn’t ever coming off.
At the other end was a line of faceless imitators.
They were coming in to bowl, but they had no drama, no pulling power, and no personality.
It was all at Freddie’s end.
Swann even took the wickets of the two best batsman.
But it wasn’t the same.
The crowd were shouting Freddie’s name, and they were right to do so.
Being at the ground made you feel like you were at some ancient altar.
It was Freddie’s place; it was Freddie’s game, and fuck you if you didn’t want to bow done before him.
Lord’s was his, and by force of personality and through all pain barriers he was bowling until Australia lost.
That takes a special player.
Sitting, and standing when he took a wicket, in the ground all I could think of was what we had missed from him.
Why had he not had this sense of duty throughout his whole career, we saw it for 2 years, and only occasionally for the rest of the time.
Because being there, even when your side lost, was amazing.
Sure I am supposed to be disappointed, but I feel like I saw something special, his energy and power just wins you over.
I almost joined in the super Freddie chants.
That is what the man does to you.
I can only hope test cricket finds someone else like him.
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