I want Sachin to acknowledge me as a decent bowler

Andrew Flintoff, probably England’s best ever all rounder after Ian Botham, been so troubled by injury that he has missed 60 test matches since his debut in 1998. And as he says it is always a proper injury, never just a niggle. The ECB and its plans notwithstanding, Flintoff plans to be fit in time for the IPL. He was reported in the cricket news as saying, "By the time the IPL comes along I'll be fit. It's not an injury that will take weeks, or that needs an operation."

When asked about the latest and most sordid international cricket scandal, of Allen Stanford, he said that he did not really know the man having met him on for the “so-called” Stanford super series. However he did not have a high opinion of the whole episode as was evident when he said, “It's been a circus from start to finish, and it's carrying on that way. It's not often you get a chance to play a game for a million dollars, but it's not a week I'll miss if we don't go again. It wasn't the most pleasurable week of my life, I must admit."

He also spoke candidly about the humiliating collapse suffered by the English players in their first test against the West Indies. "I've been involved in some collapses, but none quite like that. It was bizarre. It happened so quickly. I'm not sure they bowled that well, but they kept bowling us out. We sat in the dressing room afterwards in a complete state of shock. We couldn't believe what had just happened. But the nature of the game is that you play again very soon after, and we came back in the best possible way, posting 566 runs in the first innings in Antigua."

Speaking at length about his all round performance, his past captaincy of the English team, and relationships with Kevin Pietersen and ex coach Peter Moores, he also spoke about some of the greats of the game when asked about whether he was looking forward to bowling to Ricky Ponting in the upcoming Ashes series:
That he is a huge admirer of Sachin Tendulkar became evident when he said, "Well, they're the people you want to bowl at, the Pontings, Laras, Tendulkars. It brings out the best in you, because if you're slightly off the mark you get found out. The one I'm in awe of is Sachin [Tendulkar]. He's not much older than me, you know, but he started playing international cricket when I was playing for Lancashire Under-13s. And when you play against someone like that, you hold them in such high esteem that you try to earn their respect as well. I want him to acknowledge me as a decent bowler, so I try my nuts off. It's the same with [Rahul] Dravid."