‘My injuries were so bad my wife had to dress me,’ says Flintoff

LONDON - Former England Test cricketer Andrew Flintoff has said that at one time his injuries were so severe that his wife Rachael had to dress him up.

The now retired Test cricketer has revealed that there have been many mornings during recent years when he felt so badly injured that Rachael often had to roll a pair of socks over his massive feet, and then lace his shoes for him.

“The incentive to play for England is so high you’d do anything. Some mornings the missus had to get me out of bed and put my shoes and socks on for me. You then get the anti-inflammatories inside you, and a painkiller, and off you go,” The Guardian quoted Flintoff, as saying.

“That’s why I think differently when people look at my Test career and say: if not for injury, I could have done X, Y or Z. For me, a big achievement was just actually getting out on a cricket field. I don’t think ‘I missed this amount of Test cricket for England’. I just look back and I’m thankful I played that many Tests [79] in the end. I’ve had six operations in four-and-a-half years - and two-and-a-half of those years were in rehab. I’ve been injured since I was 13. I had back problems all the way through. So it’s some achievement,” he added.

Admitting to “a tendency not to do the right thing”, Flintoff concedes that his various escapades off the field has meant “my family’s had a lot to deal with the last few years”. (ANI)