Freddie, Freddie!
But a quick glance at the pre-show blurb on the Beeb website reveals
that Andrew Flintoff is the first name on the nine-strong list of
potential winners! On closer inspection, this turns out to be for
alphabetical reasons, but no matter. Flintoff fulfils the two basic
criteria: he has had an outstanding year and he is a personality (and
a likeable one too, which is no mean feat). To be in the ground last
summer when Flintoff came out to bat was to feel the force, to sense
the arrival of a sportsman who oozed "it". Non-cricket people began
to wonder what all the fuss was about. Then they were forced - the
Spin makes no apology - to watch video replays of the sixes and the
smiles. Cricket was not quite sexy again, and it may never be while
football dominates. But it looked distinctly coquettish, and we have
Freddie to thank for that.
Of course, he won't win, and the BBC, who have no cricket footage of
their own to show, will be grateful for it. No, the award will almost
certainly go to Kelly Holmes for her 800m/1500m Olympic double. (...)
But next year might be different. History tells us that a cricketer only becomes a true personality when the Aussies are in town: Ian Botham won the award in 1981, David Steele in 1975 and Jim Laker in 1956. On second thoughts, don't vote for Freddie this time. Two awards in two years would just be getting greedy.