The new issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly reveals Andrew Flintoff to be the most valuable ODI player of the 21st century.
To read the feature in full, including CricViz’s Test and T20 MVPs of the century, pick up a copy of the July edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly, available to buy in print and digital formats.
Based exclusively on CricViz’s market-leading analytics, each player in world cricket has been awarded an ‘MVP rating’ using a statistical model to rank their ‘match impact’ compared to their peers.
Flintoff, with an average match impact of 21.3, played a total of 125 ODIs for England between 2000 and 2009. Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan appeared in second place, with Australia’s Glenn McGrath third. No other Englishman made the top 30.
“What does Fred’s stirring presence at the summit tell us? Well, firstly what a formidable cricketer he was,” said Phil Walker, Wisden Cricket Monthly‘s editor-in-chief. “Two bruising World Cup campaigns, the second of which, at a low ebb, he steered into the sea, is no way to remember his brilliance. With the ball he was a death specialist, a yorker-at-will man with the pace, class and charisma to nick the tight ones.”
[breakout id=”0″][/breakout] “In many respects, that final over at Mumbai in 2002, coming two years after his ‘not too bad for a fat lad’ cameo with the bat, launched the man and his reshaped torso into cricket’s consciousness,” added Walker. “It set him off on an astonishing run of form in ODIs: between 2003 and 2004 he hit 1,264 runs at 51 with a strike rate of 96, while taking 46 wickets at an average of 20 and an economy rate 3.60. Injuries would take their toll, of course; he bowled out with a hat-trick at St Lucia in 2009, taking that series with him. Andrew Flintoff, eh? The most complete one-day cricketer of the century.”
