Flintoff Hits Form In Lancashire Victory
Flintoff on his way to 62 not out.
Andrew Flintoff's luck changed as he led Lancashire to their second LV County Championship win of the season at Hove on Wednesday.
A typically swashbuckling innings of 62 not out sealed an eight-wicket triumph over champions Sussex, after he had endured a frustrating time with the ball.
England selector Geoff Miller has dropped a massive hint that Flintoff will not be in the England squad named for the first Test against South Africa at Lord's.
But the charismatic all-rounder - who missed six weeks with his latest injury, a side strain - got a lift with his first 50 since May 9 last year and his best score since the ill-fated January 2 Ashes Test in Sydney exactly 18 months ago.
Miller said Flintoff, whose previous scores before this match were three ducks, would probably be given more time to recover his form with the bat - but he certainly looked fit enough when bowling 34 lively, if wicketless overs in the match.
He had missed out on the third day when TV umpire Richard Illingworth controversially ruled that skipper Chris Adams' snick to slip off Flintoff's bowling had not quite carried.
And that was after Flintoff was caught for just six by a substitute fielder in Lancashire's first innings.
But having batted a lowly number eight he stepped up to four second time around after two early wickets fell, as the visitors chased victory despite the showers.
Aggressive from the start, he reached his half-century in just 55 balls and 63 minutes, clouting two sixes and six fours before notching the winning hit as Lancashire finished on 109 for two.
Flintoff had also survived a confident appeal off Corey Collymore's bowling, having made just two, the ball apparently flicking off his pad to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
Then Carl Hopkinson dropped him in the slips on 18 before his 50 came up with an inside-edge for three.
The weather, though, had always looked to be the only threat to Lancashire's success - which with 21 more points sends them up to second in the table.
They needed just 93 runs for victory in reaching 14 for one at lunch, having disposed of Sussex's second innings for 245 with four wickets in the morning.
Following a brief interruption when the covers went on in little more than heavy drizzle, the visitors lost opener Lou Vincent to a catch at the wicket in opening bowler Jason Lewry's second over.
But unless the weather intervened it was a near-impossible task for faltering Sussex to avoid a second consecutive Championship defeat at Hove - after nearly four years without one.
The hosts, who took just five points from the contest, were only 84 ahead overnight and added just 13 runs for their last four wickets on the final day as Glen Chapple and Sajid Mahmood ran through the tail.
Chapple finished with six for 58, only just short of his best-ever first class figures of seven for 53. Mahmood, who took five wickets in the Sussex first innings, took three for 51.
Sussex had little hope after veteran Murray Goodwin was brilliantly caught behind by Luke Sutton after adding just three to his overnight 77 - the wicketkeeper redeeming himself for putting down a sharp chance off the previous ball.
The dismissal had a domino effect. Ollie Rayner, on 10, steered Mahmood to gully, where Vincent took the catch.
Chapple bowled Mushtaq Ahmed for a duck before brief resistance by Lewry, who lashed Chapple to the square leg boundary but then lost his leg stump to Mahmood's full-length delivery in the next over.
After a half-hour delay Vincent survived a thick edge when dropped by the luckless Hopkinson - but he had made only five when caught behind off the Sussex paceman.
Mal Loye gave Lewry a second victim for just four before Flintoff's arrival - and Lancashire swept home.
They missed one missed one bonus point but Stuart Law's fine unbeaten 158 made him the captain the obvious man of the match.