You are in > manchester.com  > News > Watson: Flintoff is inspiration

General Sports News

Watson: Flintoff is inspiration

05/10/2005

Australia's Shane Watson has named Andrew Flintoff, England's talismanic all-rounder, as the inspiration for his man-of-the-match winning performance against the World team at Melbourne today.

"[Flintoff] shows what an awesome all-rounder contributes to the team," Watson said after taking three wickets in Australia's 93-run victory in the first of three Super Series one-dayers.

"It gives a lot of options with both bat and ball.

"Obviously, seeing him doing really well, I want to aspire to do that job for Australia."

Flintoff himself failed to perform with the ball, going for 66 runs in his nine overs without taking a wicket, although his 38 was one of the better batting performances in the World team's innings.

After the defeat, World skipper Shaun Pollock assured the press that he and his team were playing hard to win, despite mutterings from some that the Super Series is just a money-spinning crowd-puller with no underlying competitiveness.

"These guys are proud cricketers and no-one likes to go down like that," Pollock said of his side's defeat.

"We aren't here for the crowd or the media, we're here for ourselves and everyone wants to win."

© Adfero Ltd