Flintoff’s cricket TV thing – anyone else watch it?

Suspect I’m late to this but just watched it on BBC1 – absolutely fantastic. Really interesting to see the team and watch as they progress.

Yep, really heartwarming telly.

I was convinced that Adnan was in his 30s, great show though

Cricket dude turned car presenter guy who took a chunk of our cash from the BBC for hurting himself car presenting? No thanks.

Have you actually watched it Pondo?  Flintoff was the nice guy on the car show and he has made some feel-good TV.

I was sceptical but really enjoying it (I’m a bit behind)

Quite where he’s found such bad Indian teams to play against i don’t know though; clubmates who’ve toured reckon each and every patch of scrubland has at least one batting genius and an indecipherable mystery spinner, maybe they all have days off when Freddie’s in town.

Cricket dude turned car presenter guy

You don’t need to broaden your mind when you already know everything.

Caught the end of last nights episode, first I’ve seen.

Putting aside my cynicism at how these things are edited, he genuinely came across as a good guy who cared. It also reminded me that most young people just need someone to give them time, attention and support to find a way to improve their life chances.

took a chunk of our cash from the BBC

Not a fan of Top Gear in the slightest, and very little interest in Flintoff (will watch this programme though), but that’s just not true. The payout he received was from BBC Studios, which is a commercial entity that generates a large profit that goes back into the BBC; it’s why some presenters salaries & income aren’t reported as they are not employed by the public-funded Beeb.

I’ve not watched this program – but I did watch the trailer for the show.

I was very sad to see the extent of his facial scarrs and I’m quite happy that, no matter how it was funded, he deserved the payout. I just hope the very obvious scarring doesn’t impact his career to badly.

The bloke was injured at work. His facial injuries look quite serious to me. Why would he not receive compensation from his employers? Presumably their health and safety was not adequate.

I hate Top Gear but I don’t begrudge the man his legitimate redress, or his right to present other TV shows.

The bloke was injured at work. His facial injuries look quite serious to me. Why would he not receive compensation from his employers? Presumably their health and safety was not adequate.

He was driving an open-top 3-wheeler Morgan, and the accident apparently involved it being upside down pretty much on his head. So yeah, fair to say their health and safety was pretty deficient!

I’m watching it and really enjoying it, he seems to really care about the lads and is properly invested in it.

I like how the characters have developed too. Adnan has gone from a scared refugee in series one to a public school boy in this series. Finn feels like the calm leader when he really wasn’t in the first series.

And whilst I know he’s the new lad, Eli is a proper cricketer, really knew what he was doing in that last game.

Not a fan of Top Gear in the slightest, and very little interest in Flintoff (will watch this programme though), but that’s just not true. The payout he received was from BBC Studios, which is a commercial entity that generates a large profit that goes back into the BBC

Ah – I stand corrected, ta.

Watched the first series and enjoyed it, now watching this one and enjoying it. As above it’s nice to see how the lads have developed. It just shows how people when givien a chance can change, I just hope they take it with them and don’t revert when back home. Its sad to see how the crash affected Flintoff but pleased to see he’s trying to get out there now and re-start his career. Even starting to love cricket again, I’d seen him say in the past how he had no interest in it any more but he’s even been working with England again and really seem to love it again. Probably helps his sons play at a high level.

Was really sad that the two Pakistani lads didn’t get visa’s approved to tour, I thought that was poor form India, but I don’t know enough about those things to really comment.

Watched this from the off. Taking a group of disadvantaged teens with a huge range of cricketing skills and giving them opportunities

It’s what club-level sports in all sorts of fields are about. Schools (for any age group) take note!

What an eye opener. We’ve been catching up on iplayer for the last fortnight. I’m not a cricket fan, but have enjoyed the series so much.

Sad that Ethan didn’t come back to the team. He was so disruptive in every way, but I felt with Freddie and the team’s help he could change and mature.

If, you haven’t watched it, well I can recommend starting from the beginning. Freddie is very open about his background, drinking problems and his  anxieties from ‘the crash’.

Those boys are a joy to watch (now they’ve grown and flourished after being given such opportunities). It does get a bit dusty sometimes.

Cricket dude turned car presenter guy who took a chunk of our cash from the BBC for hurting himself car presenting? No thanks.

1) Stay classy

2) A beautiful example of what UI think of as the Cougar Paradox (as it was he who has expressed his frustration with it so well in the past) – someone has taken the time to open a thread for the sole purpose of expressing their lack of interest in the content of said thread.

Some people are just weird

That’s fair – apologies.

Ah, I’ve clearly missed the boat on this as I thought I saw an article on BBC News last week about it and thought last night was the first episode (having missed the first 10 minutes of it). I’m going to have to go watch all of it.

It was really good tv – good to see professionals taking a real genuine interest in helping others progress – and also great to see the difference in them. I’ve only watched that last episode but the last game with the player being the captain – he looked like he was loving it and really seemed to be encouraging the team to play their best. He sounded like he had a very mature outlook as well as captain.

I’ll hopefully find the rest of it and manage to watch it all. I’d hope these skills they are learning and using will remain with them.

Not seen it yet but do remember from reading Flintoff’s autobiography (many years ago, details may be hazy), him talking about his progression through cricket as a kid – being obviously very good at his local club, he just ended up playing higher and higher level men’s cricket as a young teenager. So he was always the “young kid” or immature newbie in any team he was in.

Contrasted with most of his private school educated professional team mates who got more development playing in very good youth sides since they were old enough to hold a bat.

The first time he was ever a captain of a cricket side was when he was made England captain, and he was wholly unprepared.

Very enjoyable series all round. I’ve even played street cricket in India 30 odd years ago, got absolutely battered by the locals but had great fun all round.

If you’re well paid enough, apparently you don’t deserve the same health and safety protections as everyone else.

Quite tempted by this, feels like a kind of ‘Educating Yorkshire’ vibe. Is there a first series I need to watch beforehand?

feels like a kind of ‘Educating Yorkshire’ vibe

Not a bad comparison.

I watched it and enjoyed it.

Quite tempted by this, feels like a kind of ‘Educating Yorkshire’ vibe. Is there a first series I need to watch beforehand?

Yes, first series was in Preston and shows how the team came together.