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London: Former pace legend Jeff Thompson has said that England has no chance of winning the Ashes, because Australia no longer fears Andrew Flintoff.
"Bringing Flintoff back for the final Test at The Oval next week won't fool our blokes. They know England are pinning all their hopes on a saviour charging in to bowl on one leg," he said.
"Great warrior that he is, Flintoff will make one last push to win the Ashes before he retires from Test cricket. But the fact is his knee is crocked. England have to take 20 wickets next week to save their skins and, Flintoff or no Flintoff, they haven't got the bowlers to do it," Thompson wrote in his column for The Mirror.
He wrote that if Australia can see off Flintoff they could draw the sting from England's whole game plan. And since England capitulated at Headingley to surrender their 1-0 lead in the series, there's no way back for them.
Before the one-sided game at Leeds, I said there would be people hanging from the rafters if we went to the Oval 1-1 with everything to play for.
"But, jeez, England were so hopeless at Headingley that I reckon there will be a few Poms hanging themselves from the rafters before the final Test is over. My old mate Beefy (Sir Ian Botham) has been pumping up England's chances all summer, but Headingley proved it was just a false dawn," he added.
If Australia win the toss and bat first at the Oval, your blokes will be scared to death because if we get 500, we can all go home – and Australia will take the urn with them, Thompson wrote.
