andrew flintoff

Born: 06.12.1977
County: Lancashire
Tests: 67
Role: All-rounder
Bat: Right-hand
Bowl: Right-arm fast
Bat Average: 32.50
Bowl Average: 32.02

Named captain for England's Ashes defence in the absence of Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff is certainly the highest-profile player in England, and possibly the world.

Flintoff's destructive hitting in the middle order allied with his deceptively quick bowling have made the one they call Freddie the premier all-rounder of his generation.

He also possesses hands like buckets, and is among the safest slippers around.

The suspicion that there is very little Flintoff can't do was confirmed when he stood in as captain of an injury-hit England side in India early in 2006 and emerged from the series with a creditable 1-1 draw.

He captained England again in their drawn series with Sri Lanka, but his tendency to overbowl himself may have played a part in the recurring ankle injury that kept him out of the series against Pakistan later in the English summer.

After a dreadful game in the first Ashes Test at Lord's in 2005, Flintoff came back to dominate the series in a way no English cricketer has since Ian Botham. Flintoff's runs and wickets at Edgbaston laid the foundation for one of the most memorable victories in modern Test history, and his first Ashes ton in the fourth game at Trent Bridge was crucial to England's second and ultimately decisive victory of the series.

Flintoff comes across as the village cricketer writ large, always playing with a smile on his face. But the grin hides a deep-seated will to win and a shrewd cricket brain.

His ability to take the game away from his opponents - with both bat and ball -makes him England's key man, and his ability to cope with the added pressure of captaining an Ashes side will be key to the tourists' chances.

Flintoff is that rare breed; an English cricketer respected and even feared by the Australians.

But they love him too, and his commiseration with Brett Lee at the end of that extraordinary Edgbaston match ranks as one of the defining sporting images of the 21st century.