When the England captain scores 161 runs in the first innings and leads his side to victory over Australia at Lord's for the first time since 1934, it takes something special to eclipse him to the man of the match award. And that's exactly what Andrew Flintoff provided - on his last Test match appearance on the famous ground.
I don't think I've seen Flintoff bowl as well as he did yesterday (in returning second innings figures of 5-92) since 2005. It was epic stuff - a big match performer putting his body through one last series of duels against the toughest and most prized scalp in the game. On the final morning, with Australia still needing 209 to win with five wickets in hand, Flintoff was hell-bent on making sure his country did not suffer an unlikely and unimaginably catastrophic defeat. The night before, Clarke and Haddin (who put on 185 together) had, with every confident stroke, gradually increased the possibility of that outcome occurring. Flintoff though, bowled an unbelievably potent Monday morning spell in claiming the third five-for of his Test career (improbable but true) and making history for the England team.
It was, as Flintoff himself was at pains to point out, a true team effort which put England 1-0 up in this Ashes series.
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