da bet7： Andrew Flintoff insisted that his team is focused solely on theChampions Trophy, brushing aside suggestions that it was just anothertournament ahead of one of the most-hyped Ashes in recent times.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in New Delhi07-Oct-2006
‘We have talent in the side, young players and the onething we got to strive for is consistency’ © Getty Images
Andrew Flintoff insisted that his team is focused solely on theChampions Trophy, brushing aside suggestions that it was just anothertournament ahead of one of the most-hyped Ashes in recent times.”Two years ago, we reached the final in the Champions Trophy and we wantto do it again,” he said while addressing the media at New Delhi’s LeMeridian Hotel.Having been put to pasture for close to four months, owing to a wonkyankle, Flintoff reiterated that he was eager, almost desperate, to play.”Hopefully we can go further this time. It’s something I’m excited about. Having missed it a hell of a lot,want to get back on the pitch and play again. Sometimes, you tend to takecricket for granted.”The start of his pre-tournament press conference coincidedwith the Champions Trophy kick-off, as Bangladesh took on Sri Lanka inthe opening qualifying game at Mohali.They might have entered the final last time around, but neither Englandnor West Indies are tipped to go all the way this time. England’s one-dayform in recent years has been poor – having won just six of their last 26ODIs. Their recent fightback against Pakistan, when they levelled theseries 2-2, somewhat made amends for a miserable phase when they endured14 defeats in 15 games against major opposition.”West Indies and us got into the final last time and we’ve got to go outthere confident and believe we can beat other top teams as well,” Flintoffcontinued. “In the summer, we came back from 2-0 down against Pakistan andthat was fantastic. We have talent in the side, young players and the onething we got to strive for is consistency. We need to try and string a lotof victories together.”Lack of consistency hurt them during their tour to India earlier thisyear, when they were thumped 5-1 in the one-day series. Flintoff, though,preferred to build on the lessons from that tour. “We played some goodcricket in the one-say series and put India under pressure at times. But wecouldn’t see it home many times. We gained experience about pitches andconditions. We’re in a tough group and have a chance to play some goodcricket against the top teams in the world.”With the Ashes defence beckoning, it might have been tempting for Englandto preserve Flintoff and get him back into full fitness, but the manhimself seemed to think otherwise. “My fitness has been good. I haven’tplayed a great deal of cricket in the last 13-14 weeks, aboutten-and-a-half weeks after the operation. My body’s responded well totraining. It’s an opportunity to get outside, bowl in the nets, and pushmyself more and more. We have a week before the first game. I’ve beenbatting at home in the nets and since I haven’t played a lot, I need toget the cobwebs out.”Flintoff won’t be the only one dusting cobwebs. This tournament willprovide a chance for Stephen Harmison and James Anderson to get themselvesfine-tuned for the Ashes. There will also be a return for Ashley Giles,who won’t play in any of the games but get a chance for rehabilitation.”It’s great to have Giles back,” Flintoff beamed. “He’s a popular memberof the squad and he’s been a stellar performer for sometime. I’ve missed abit of cricket, but he’s missed a lot. He’s desperate to get back on thepitch, desperate to play. He’s someone I like having around, as a friendand as a cricketer.”England start the tournament with two high-voltage games – taking on hostsIndia at Jaipur before locking horns with Australia. Surprisingly, it’sbeen the latter who they’ve had more success against in recent times.Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, spoke about the importance of theAustralia clash, on October 21 at Jaipur. “We’ve played consistentlyagainst Australia since the last ICC Champions Trophy,” he said when askedabout the Twenty20 game last summer that set the tone for the historicAshes triumph. ” That set the mark and since then we’ve shown improvement against them. So it will be nice to continue that record.”