Flintoff happy to be a marked man

14 April 2012

Andrew Flintoff is preparing to become a marked man again as England begin their preparations for their forthcoming Test series against South Africa when they start the tour with the traditional curtain-raiser in Randjesfontein tomorrow.

Although Flintoff and the other seven Test specialists have been training here for several days, tomorrow's one-day warm-up against Nicky Oppenheimer's XI will be their first outing as they build up for the opening Test in Port Elizabeth on December 17.

South African fans will be keen to witness the transformation in England's fortunes and will be looking closely at the form of fast bowler Steve Harmison, Marcus Trescothick and Graham Thorpe in the tour opener against a select XI including former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak.

But there is no doubt most of the attention will be centred on Lancashire all-rounder Flintoff, not just for his miraculous performances against South Africa in the 2003 drawn series in England but also because of his running verbal battle with fellow all-rounder Jacques Kallis throughout that summer.

"There may be a few key battles and Jacques did have a few words with me last time we met," admitted Flintoff.

"I got a fair amount of stick last time but you come to expect that - I play my cricket quite aggressively and I do have the odd word to say myself so you expect it to come back at you from time to time.

"People say it's a sign of respect but some of the things that were said to me weren't that respectful so I'm not quite sure whether they respect me or they think I'm rubbish!

"There are different ways of approaching different people and they decided to get at me quite a bit, but they are an aggressive race of people and an aggressive side so you expect it."

The efforts of Kallis and his South Africa team-mates to intimidate and distract England's premier all-rounder failed miserably in the previous series, with Flintoff emerging as man of the series with 423 runs at an average of 52.88.

He carried that form on last summer with another man of the series award against West Indies to clinch a 4-0 whitewash and maintain an England run which now stands at 10 wins in the last 11 Tests.

But the next big challenge for England and Flintoff will be to win in South Africa for the first time in 39 years.

"I don't know how they are going to deal with me this time and I don't really care - I'm more interested in how I'm going to approach the game rather than what they're going to say or what they're going to do to me," stressed Flintoff.

"It's important for me to get my game right and whatever they do is out of my control.

"I'm confident, I want to recapture the form I had last summer and I want to make a major contribution to winning a Test series against them.

"It's going to be hard in South Africa, they're an aggressive side and they are good at home, but we're going over there to win the Test series and I fully expect us to do so and I'm sure the rest of the lads feel the same way."

Torrential rain greeted England's arrival from Bulawayo yesterday but, weather permitting, the full squad will have their first work-out today at the Wanderers in preparation for tomorrow's opening match.

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