Andrew Flintoff Quotes

Fast bowling is an art, like spin bowling.

When I bowled to batters like Michael Vaughan or Jacques Kallis who were classical, technically perfect, sound batters, I always found that I could get them out.

I might be six foot six but that doesn't mean I can play a Steve Harmison role and bounce people out.

Bowling on English pitches is not rocket science. If you bowl a good length on off stump, the ball just has to do a fraction, up or down or side to side, and you get someone out.

I have always been an attacking bowler, but I am trying my best to learn every day.

The thing I've got to concentrate on for South Africa is bowling at good pace and if the ball is in the right area that will cause enough trouble.

I am a rhythmic bowler.

Being a swing bowler, bowling at the death is just an added facet in my bowling.

I rely on swing to get wickets, and I continue to do it that way. I have never tried to copy others.

I don't want a new ball when I am bowling in the subcontinent. I want an old ball that can't get hit out of the ground. I want a ball that when I bowl doesn't have true bounce, so that the batsman can't hit it.

That is one of the great things about Test cricket, the ball. Sometimes it swings conventionally, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes it reverses.

The start of the English county season - from April to mid-May when it's cold - is the same as South Africa because it seams and swings. After that, the ball starts spinning nicely, and that's when I get my wickets.

As bowlers, we don't worry about the wickets, whether they are flat or not.

I try to keep the ball up to the bat, and I usually get the ball to outswing, so I get wickets like that.

What you can never do on a slow pitch is bowl with any width. If you bowl straight it's almost impossible to get the ball away.

Almost every bowler bowls a slower ball, but not many can be deceptive. A slower ball can only be deceptive if it is different, if it is floating, swinging.

Bowling in sub-continental conditions is not easy for a fast bowler. You have to be consistent and persistent to succeed, especially when you are bowling to the likes of Sangakkara, Mahela, Samaraweera, and Dilshan.

Those first few overs are obviously the most difficult time because you don't know what the ball is going to do in the air and off the seam.

I was away from the game for a few years, and it feels good to be back. I'm bowling quite well and also getting the ball to reverse swing. During the time off, I worked a lot on getting the ball to reverse swing; now it's working well for me.

As a bowler, you want to go and bowl in helpful conditions in South Africa, England, and Australia. But it is also important to bowl in the right areas, and they differ from bowler to bowler, depending on conditions and the opposition.

In the longer term we have got to learn how to bowl on flat pitches if England are to head the ICC Championship table.

I would love to bowl 160 km/h. Any fast bowler would love to do that. But for me that is almost impossible.

Roland-Jones is a good, old-fashioned English seamer. He's not especially quick, but he pitches the ball up and swings it away, which is always dangerous.

In T20, I think it's really valuable to have a bowler who can bring the ball back into the right hander at pace.

Runs are important, don't get me wrong, but it will be wickets that I will be judged on.